"It is impossible for me to be sure of that."
"Perhaps. But, tell me, do you think it is so?"
"I am inclined to."
Charmian felt as if she flushed. She was conscious of a stir of something that was like anger within her. It hurt her very much to think that perhaps Susan put Claude higher than her. But she controlled the expression of what she felt, and only said, perhaps a little coldly:
"It ought to be so. He is so much cleverer than I am."
"I don't think I mean that. It isn't always cleverness we learn from."
"Goodness then!"
Charmian forced herself to smile.
"Do you think me far below Claude from the moral point of view?" she added, with an attempt at laughing lightness.
"It isn't that either. But I think he has let out an anchor which reaches bottom, though perhaps at present he isn't aware of it. And I'm not sure that you ever have. By the way, I've a message from Adelaide for you."