“Nevertheless, I should like to see the point of each pin.”
“Your name has been mentioned very often between us, ever since the death of Orizaba.”
“Well?”
“I could see, when you were there at that time, that—er—well, that you admired Mercedes very much indeed.”
“You were entirely correct in that decision.”
“I could also see that she was especially drawn toward you; in short, that she admired you almost as much as you did her.”
“I am very much pleased to hear you say that. I did not suppose that she had had time to remember my existence.”
“It is a funny thing, Carter, that you can be so mighty shrewd about seeing things in one light, and still not be able to see a deuced thing in another—that is, from another and different point of view.”
“That is a very ordinary human failing, Danton. But, go on.”
“Mercedes has always held rather extraordinary ideas about love and marriage; about men, women and things socially, much to the annoyance of mother and to the amusement of my father. I think, Carter, that you almost came up to her idea of the ideal man.”