"I never mention you to her."
Lily caught her breath.
"Why?"
"Why should I?"
"That is unfair, Louis! She has the right to know about your own family—otherwise how can she understand the situation?"
"It's like all situations, isn't it? You and father and mother have your own arbitrary customs and traditions and standards of respectability. You rule out whom you choose. Valerie West knows perfectly well that you would rule her out. Why should she give you the opportunity?"
"Is she afraid of me?"
He smiled: "I don't think so." And his smile angered his sister.
"Very well," she said, biting her lip.
For a few moments she sat there deliberating, her pointed patent-leather toe tapping the polished floor. Then she stood up, with decision: