Stephanie, still hotly flushed, shook out her beautiful chestnut hair and began to comb it viciously.
"I don't see how a common person can amuse a well-born man," she said.
"It's a reflection on us if we give them the opportunity," retorted Helen, laughing. "But if we're not clever enough to hold the men of our own caste, then they'll certainly go elsewhere for their amusement."
"And good riddance!"
"But who's to replace them?"
"I can get along perfectly without men."
"Steve, you're talking like a child! What happens to be the matter with you? Has anything gone wrong?"
"Absolutely nothing——" She turned sharply; her comb caught in her hair and she jerked it free. Perhaps that accounted for the sudden glint of tears in her grey eyes.
Helen slipped her arm around her, but the girl's rigid body did not yield and she kept her head obstinately averted.
"Are you getting tired of your idiotic bargain with Oswald?" asked Helen, gently.