"What a charming person is Lady Jane Lennox!" exclaimed Monsieur Varbarriere, suddenly diverging.
"H'm! do you think so? Well, yes, she is very much admired."
"It is not often you see a pair so unequal in years so affectionately attached," said Monsieur Varbarriere.
"I have never seen her husband, and I can't, therefore, say how they get on together; but I'm glad to hear you say so. Jane has a temper, you know, which every one might not get on with; that is," she added, fearing lest she had gone a little too far, "sometimes it is not quite pleasant."
"No doubt she was much admired and much pursued," observed Varbarriere.
"Yes, I said she was admired," answered Lady Alice, drily.
"How charming she looks, reading her book at this moment!" exclaimed Varbarriere.
She was leaning back on an ottoman, with a book in her hand; her rich wavy hair, her jewels and splendid dress, her beautiful braceleted arms, and exquisitely haughty features, and a certain negligence in her pose, recalled some of those voluptuous portraits of the beauties of the Court of Charles II.
Sir Jekyl was seated on the other side of the cushioned circle, leaning a little across, and talking volubly, and, as it seemed, earnestly. It is one of those groups in which, marking the silence of the lady and the serious earnestness of her companion, and the flush of both countenances, one concludes, if there be nothing to forbid, that the talk is at least romantic.
Lady Alice was reserved, however; she merely said—