Thusis flushed.
"I am wondering," said I airily, "whether the rôle of Adonis might suit me."
"What!" she exclaimed.
"Adonis," I repeated. "He was that poor fish of an amateur who played opposite Aphrodite. And got the hook. But the rôle is all right and it's a no-character part if you play it straight.... I'm wondering—" And I smiled at my own thoughts and blew three rings of smoke up at the sun-lit grape leaves overhead.
Suddenly Thusis unclosed her soft, fresh lips, which seemed a trifle tremulous:
"That woman," she said breathlessly, "is notorious in Vienna! And if you are—sufficiently abandoned—to d-degrade yourself by—an affair—with her——"
"But what do you care, Thusis?"
Her face flamed. "I care—that!" she said, snapping her white fingers. And turned swiftly on her heel.
XVI
THE COUNTESS