"The bounder!" she thought. "Though it is really my fault—I led him on."
For an instant Pendleton caught her eye; and she knew that he had heard, though he was seemingly occupied with Mrs. Burleston's chatter.
As for Porshinger, having found that Mrs. Lorraine was interested in his money, he thought to appeal to her by an intimate little talk; he was doing this and that and the other, he was considering thus and so; he had done mighty things (which was true enough), and he promised to do more. He confided it all to her in an indefinite, impersonal way—and flattered himself that he was making a deep impression.
And he was—though not in quite the way he assumed.
Presently he turned back to Miss Chamberlain, and Stephanie looked at Cameron and smiled.
"Did you enjoy it?" he asked, amused.
"Some of it," she answered.
"You see now what Gladys has done?"
"She has but anticipated the inevitable."