Geraldine threw away her cigarette, smoothed her sleek hair, stood upright as if preparing to go and said with brisk indifference:
‘Well, I’m sorry if I’ve been a nuisance.’
‘Oh, you haven’t been a nuisance.’
Judith crushed her cold hands into her lap. Now it was almost over: soon she could let herself collapse. But Geraldine still lingered, looking about her.
‘You’ve got nice things,’ she said. ‘Most of the rooms I’ve seen are too frightful.’
‘I’m luckier than most girls here. I have more money.’
‘Do you like being here?’
‘I have liked it—and disliked it.’
‘Hmm. Jennifer hates it. I don’t wonder. I think I’ve persuaded her to leave and come abroad with me.’
Defeat at last. She had no answer to that, not one weapon left. She stared before her, paralyzed.