"He is a humanitarian?"
"And a great believer."
"In man?"
"In the good that is in man. I often think at the back of his mind, or heart, he believes that the act of belief is almost an act of creation."
"You mean, for instance, that if you believe in a man's truthfulness you make him a truthful man?"
"Yes."
"Oh, Doctor Isaacson," said Lady O'Ryan, "do introduce Mr. Armine to my husband, and make him believe my husband is a miser instead of a spendthrift. It would be such a mercy to the family. We might begin to pay off the mortgage on the castle."
The conversation took a frivolous turn, and died in laughter.
But towards the end of dinner Mrs. Derringham again spoke of Nigel Armine, asking:
"And what does Mr. Armine do now?"