"Is it not? My friends—the Eliotts—will not receive him."
"There's no reason why they should."
"Is there any reason why I should? Do you want me to be less fastidious than they are? You forget that I was brought up with very fastidious people. My father wouldn't have allowed me to speak to a man like Mr. Gorst. Do you want me to accept a lower standard that his, or my mother's?"
"Have you considered what my standard would look like if I turned my best friend out of the house—a man I've known all my life—just because my wife doesn't happen to approve of him? I know nothing about your Eliotts; but if Edie can stand him, I should think you might."
"I," said Anne coldly, "am not in love with him."
He frowned, and a dull flush of anger coloured the frown. "I must say, your standard is a remarkable one if it permits you to say things like that."
"I would not have said it but for what you told me yourself."
"What did I tell you?"
"That Edith cared for him."
He remembered.