Craven explained. Miss Van Tuyn listened with an intensity of interest which flattered him. He began to think her quite lovely, and she saw the pretty thought in his mind.
When he had finished she said:
“No attempt to recover the lost jewels, the desertion of Paris, the sudden change into old age! What do you make of it?”
“I can make nothing. Unless the chagrin she felt made her throw up everything in a fit of anger. And then, of course, once the thing was done she couldn’t go back.”
“You mean—go back to the Edwardian youthfulness she had abandoned?”
“Yes. One may refuse to grow old, but once one has become definitely, ruthlessly old, it’s practically impossible to jump back to a pretence of the thirties.”
“Of course. It would frighten people. But—it wasn’t that.”
“No?”
“No. For if she had felt the loss of her jewels so much as you suggest, she would have made every effort to recover them.”
“I suppose she would.”