"Of course, directly you came down. Has Adelaide taught you that?"
"No! Are you angry, mother?"
"No. But I like young things to look really young as long as they can. And to me the first touch of make-up suggests the useless struggle against old age. Now I'm not very old yet, not fifty. But I've let my hair become white."
"And how it suits you, my beautiful mother!"
"That's my little compensation. A few visits to Bond Street might make me look ten years younger than I do, but if I paid them, do you know I think I should lose one or two friendships I value very much."
Mrs. Mansfield paused.
"Lose—friendships?" Charmian almost faltered.
"Yes. Some of the best men value sincerity of appearance in a woman more than perhaps you would believe to be possible."
"In friendship!" Charmian almost whispered.
Again there was a pause. Mrs. Mansfield knew very well that a sentence from her at this moment would provoke in Charmian an outburst of sincerity. But she hesitated to speak that sentence. For a voice within her whispered, "Am I on Charmian's side?"