“Indeed it is! But surely you didn’t let them know that you knew they were? Or shall I say know they are?”
She smiled, showing perfect teeth, and shook her corn-coloured head.
“You see, I’m so young and live in Paris! And then I’m American. They have no idea how much I know. I just let them suppose that I only knew they were old enough to remember Lady Sellingworth when she was still a reigning beauty. I implied that they were buds then.”
“And they accepted the implication?”
“Oh, they are women of the world! They just swallowed it very quietly, as a well-bred person swallows a small easy-going bonbon.”
Craven could not help laughing. As he did so he saw in Miss Van Tuyn’s eyes the thought:
“You think me witty, and you’re not far out.”
“And did you glean any knowledge of Lady Sellingworth?” he asked.
“Oh, yes; quite a good deal. Mrs. Ackroyde showed me a photograph of her as she was about eleven years ago.”
“A year before the plunge!”