"I am sure they are much more interesting in the form in which the newspapers presented them."
"I always wanted to see a mine. Surely a mine must be lovely. Please tell me about a mine."
He tried to tell her, but mining had been to him only a means to an end and, the end now being attained, mining struck him as a dull subject. He abruptly concluded by telling her so.
"Besides," he said, "it is merely a business: a mere business, like any other. What can girls and women care for business?"
So he brought back the conversation to the play that they had seen the night before. He discussed the plot with her, the plot having no relation to business, or to anything else approaching actuality for that matter, his iron-grey eyes all the while eagerly feeding on her beauty and her youth.
"You think," he asked, "that the Duchess should not have tried to break off the match?"
"Just because Arthur was young and poor?" inquired Muriel. "Of course I think she shouldn't. He was far too nice for her daughter anyway."
"But there was the suspicion that he had cheated at cards. Lord Eustace had told her so."
"She didn't really believe that; she only wanted to believe it. I think she was horrid."
"And her daughter, Lady—Lady——" He hesitated for the name.