“Why not?” she replied quickly.
“Well—because I do not understand you, madam,” I burst out.
“I am a woman, sir,” she answered. “Is not that reason logical enough?”
“Yet a few days ago nothing would have been too bad to happen to them,” I said bluntly.
“A few days ago, sir, I did not know many things that I do now,” she rejoined, toying with a rope of pearls that hung from her shoulders. “And in that I pity him, I do but make use of the prerogative of my sex. ’Tis the divine right of woman to be inconsistent.”
To this I found no reply, and again we fell silent.
Suddenly my lady leaned forwards.
“Mr. Cassilis,” she said winningly, “will you answer me a question?”
“If it is in my power to do so, certainly, madam,” I replied.
“Then will you as a soldier tell me candidly what chance of success has James in Ireland?”