"Well, Georgia?" he said, after a pause.

She turned her face to the window, and asked, huskily:

"Who are coming?"

"My mother and cousin, the Arlinfords, Mrs. Harper and her two daughters, Colonel and Mrs. Gleason, and their two sons, Miss Reid, and Mr. Lester."

"All I dislike most."

"All you dislike most, Mrs. Wildair?" he said, coolly. "What am I to understand by that?"

"What I say. I have not yet learned to dissimulate," she said, bitterly.

"Really, Mrs. Wildair, this is pleasant. I presume you forget my mother."

Georgia was silent.

"Am I to understand, Mrs. Wildair, that my mother is included in the catalogue of those you dislike?"