"I used to think so. He tried to make me think that he was heart-broken the first time we met in Queen Anne Street. But nothing more than that."
"He seems to have managed very badly."
"He managed so badly that I felt more vexed with him than I could have thought possible. He had no right to be so careless of me that day at Bignor. I was in his charge and he put me in a very uncomfortable position. I have not forgiven him. I don't feel the same towards him as I did."
Her voice was quietly judicial, her manner wholly natural. Gaunt could not but realise that here was no rival to be feared.
"You liked him once, though?" he went on, to make himself doubly sure.
"What—before I was married? Yes, I suppose I did. I thought I did. It was just a delightful experience to feel that he thought me pretty. By the way, do you think me pretty, Osbert?"
"No."
"I thought not. But I am, you know."
"Little peacock! You should have heard what everybody was saying of you when you went out of the dining-room to-night! These absurd ears must have been quite hot! How stunning you looked in the diamonds! I am glad I made you wear them.... It is a curious thing that, since I first saw you, you have altered completely. I used to think you were like your mother, and now——"
She broke in eagerly. "So have you! How odd! You are quite, quite different from what you used to be. Ever so much nicer!"