He turned. Convention demanded a smile and a polite greeting; but Spencer was not conventional. “You are a thought reader, Mrs. de la Vere,” he said.
“‘One of my many attractions,’ you should have added.”
“I find this limpid light too critical.”
“Oh, what a horrid thing to tell any woman, especially in the early morning!”
“I have a wretched habit of putting the second part of a sentence first. I really intended to say—but it is too late.”
“It is rather like swallowing the sugar coating after the pill; but I’ll try.”
“Well, then, this crystal atmosphere does not lend itself to the obvious. If we were in London, I should catalogue your bewitchments lest you imagined I was blind to them.”
“That sounds nice, but——”
“It demands analysis, so I have failed doubly.”
“I don’t feel up to talking like a character in one of Henry James’s novels. And you were much more amusing last night. Have you seen Miss Jaques this morning?”