Lily still sat complacently. “I’m sure we have!” she said, purely to oblige her companion.
“But not what you suppose,” said Madame Blaise looking at her sharply. “Not at all what you suppose. I am not speaking of the youth which we share ... you and I. I am speaking rather of the qualities which have nothing to do with youth. I mean the capacity to love.” This sentiment she uttered with a look of profound mystery. In spite of her eccentricity, there gleamed now and then through the cloud of mystery traces of a grand manner, a certain elusive distinction. It showed in a turn of the head, a gesture, an intonation ... nothing very tangible, indeed, little more than a fleeting illusion.
Lily’s eye began to wander once more, round and round the room to this picture and that, hesitating for a moment on one or another of the amazing collection which caught her fancy. When Madame Blaise fell silent once more for a long interval, she remarked,
“But have you no picture of yourself among all these?”
“No,” replied the old woman. “I am coming to that later.” And without pausing, she added, “You have had lovers of course.” And when Lily, astounded by this sudden observation, stirred nervously in her chair, Madame Blaise raised her hand. “Oh, I know. I am not going to reproach you. I approve, you understand. It is what beautiful women are made for.” Her eyes took on an uncanny look of shrewdness.
“Don’t fancy that I am ignorant. Some people of course say that I am crazy. I am not. It’s the others who are crazy, so they think that I am. But I understand. You have a lover now.... He is Madame Gigon’s cousin.” She looked fiercely into Lily’s face which had grown deathly pale at the crazy outburst of the old woman. She appeared frightened now. She did not even protest.
“I have watched,” continued Madame Blaise, in the most intimate manner possible. “I understand these things. I know what a glance can mean ... a gesture, a sudden unguarded word. You, my dear, have not always been as cautious, as discreet, as you might have been. You needn’t fear. I shall say nothing. I shall not betray you.” She reached over and touched Lily’s hand with an air of great confidence. “You see, we are alike. We are as one. It is necessary for us to fight these other women ... like de Cyon. She is a cat, you understand.”
Lily, all her complacency vanished now, glanced at the watch on her wrist. She stood up and walked to the fireplace in an effort to break the way toward escape. She was, it appeared, unable to collect her wits so that she might deal with Madame Blaise.
“You must not go yet,” continued the harridan. “I have so much to tell you.” She pursed her withered lips reflectively and put her head a little on one side. “When I was a young girl, I was very like you. You can see that my hair is still the same. People notice and remark how beautifully it has kept its color. Oh yes, many have spoken to me of it. There is nothing like preserving your beauty.” And at this she chuckled a little wildly with an air of savage triumph.