“That you hate it.”
Lady Holme smiled, as if she were very much entertained.
“But why should I hate it?”
“I don’t know. But women invent reasons for everything.”
“What have they invented for this?”
“Oh—well—that you like to—I can’t tell you it all, really. But in substance it comes to this! They are saying, or implying—”
“Implication is the most subtle of the social arts.”
“It’s the meanest—implying that all that’s natural to you, that sets you apart from others, is an assumption to make you stand out from the rest of the crowd, and that you hate Miss Schley because she happens to have assumed some of the same characteristics, and so makes you seem less unique than you did before.”
Lady Holme said nothing for a moment. Then she remarked:
“I’m sure no woman said ‘less unique.’”