“I didn’t know there was much love lost between them?”
“There wasn’t,” confessed Peggy. “Mrs. Trevor was perfectly horrid to her.”
“That’s news to me,” said Dick, helping himself to another sandwich.
“Beatrice is not the kind to air her troubles in public,” answered Peggy, “and she never talked much to me, either; but I couldn’t help noticing lots of things. I’ve got eyes in my head.”
“That you have,” thought Dick, who had long since fallen a victim.
“Why, last night Beatrice and I went to the Bachelors’ together. I stopped for her, and she just broke down and cried right there in the carriage. She had had an awful scene with her stepmother just before I got there. We had to drive around for half an hour before she was composed enough to enter the ballroom.”
“What did they quarrel about?” asked Mrs. Macallister, deeply interested.
“She didn’t tell me.”
“By Jove! what actresses women are,” ejaculated Dick. “I danced with her several times, and I thought she was enjoying herself immensely.”
Peggy sniffed; she had not a high opinion of a mere man’s perceptions; then she qualified her disapproval by a smile which showed each pretty dimple, and sent Dick into the seventh heaven of bliss.