‘Beastly slow, isn’t it?’ he said. ‘There doesn’t seem to be a smoke room, and none of the fellows are my sort.’
‘Why haven’t you come to see me?’ asked Madeline, nodding.
‘Since your marriage?’
‘Yes.’
‘Well, I don’t know—you didn’t ask me—and your husband’s a swell.’
‘He’s nothing of the sort, Jack, and as to not being asked, you ought to have known my house was open to every friend of my dear guardian. You might smoke in the drawing-room if you liked, and no one would object.’
Jack laughed.
‘I’m not quite such a beast as that; but there, I’ll come since you wish it, and have a talk about old times.’
At this point they were interrupted by Blanco Serena.
‘Mrs. Forster,’ said he, ‘permit me; I wish to make two clever people known to each other.’