Margaret was mute.
"How can I tell what you consider good-looking," he answered, roughly. "He is a fine strong well-built fellow, and has seen a great deal of the world, and he is a successful man, which is more than being good-looking or amusing, let me tell you."
"If he has seen the world he will be at any rate interesting," said Mrs. Dorriman, rising; but when they had reached the door he called her back, and said in a tone of mystery:
"You spoke of society and giving the girls a chance. I don't wish Margaret away, but if George Drayton takes a fancy to Grace she will have to take him."
Mrs. Dorriman shivered: this speech recalled her own youth, when she had to "take" the husband he had chosen for her.
Instinct often gives a woman the right weapon to use, and she said now hurriedly:
"If you let her know this, if you tell her this, she will set herself against him."
He looked at her with that sort of surprise which always came to him when she showed anything of the wisdom of the serpent he considered her so completely without.
"I think you are right," he said, slowly; "but I mean this marriage to be, and you understand if you see a way of helping it I expect you to help it on."
"If I like the man—if I approve," she said, in a low voice, but with a firmness unusual to her. "And if she likes him."