In point of fact Terry was then thinking of Sally Ashton, by whom, since their first meeting, he had been strongly attracted. But there was no distinction in this, as Sally attracted most men. She also made most of them believe that she was filled with exquisite, womanly emotions, when, in reality she had not half the hidden depth of feeling that Peggy’s finer and more sincere nature concealed.
Ralph Marshall had been listening to his two friends, without entering into the conversation, but he now shrugged his shoulders.
“Oh you and Benton are both wrong, Brent; girls are all alike. It is only that they are better actresses than men are and can appear to be different. I’ll bet Peggy Webster is as sentimental and as vain as most of them. I’ll wager I can prove it to you. She is an only girl and has lived surrounded by an adoring family. I don’t suppose she has ever had any man pay her the least attention. If she had she would be like all the rest.”
Terry Benton laughed. “Friend Ralph is a trifle annoyed, isn’t he? Hasn’t Mistress Peggy been sufficiently impressed? Anyhow, Marshall, you can be pretty sure she will never change her temperament for either of us.”
Ralph shrugged his shoulders.
“Oh, I don’t know. I’ll bet you a hundred I could make her like me if I tried hard enough.”
“Taken,” Terry Benton replied quickly.
Until this moment Howard Brent had been silent during the conversation which his own words had innocently provoked. However, his face had crimsoned and he was now looking rather angry.
“You men are a couple of—oh, you know well enough what I would like to call you without my saying the word,” he added. “But, in any case, kindly don’t consider me a third in this transaction. It is rather hard luck to have had to stay and hear this much of your conversation.” He turned angrily away.
Terry Benton followed him.