"Has he sung at any concerts?"
"In private," she explained—"socially. He visits among musicians a great deal. And of course it makes it very lively for us. He is quite —er—in the swim!"
"You're to be congratulated on your family," said Turquand. "With such a son, and a daughter like Miss Walford——"
"Yes, she is very much admired," she admitted—"very much! But a strange girl, Mr. Turquand. You wouldn't believe how strange!"
He did not press her to put him to the test, but she supplied the particulars as if glad of the opportunity. He remarked that, in narrating matters of which she was proud, she adopted a breathless, staccato delivery, which provoked the suspicion that she was inventing the facts as she went on.
"She is most peculiar," she insisted. "The matches she has refused! Appalling!"
"No?" he said.
"A Viscount!" she gasped. "She refused a Viscount in Monte Carlo last year. A splendid fellow! Enormously wealthy. Perfectly wild about her. She wouldn't look at him."
"You astonish me," he murmured.
Mrs. Walford shook her head speechlessly, with closed eyes.