"We do not consider her eccentric," I said.
"Well, you must confess that she moves in an orbit of her own," she rejoined.
"Not alone, then," I answered, "so many luminaries circle round her."
"Lady Adeline criticises her severely," she ventured, with a touch of asperity.
"Les absents out toujours torts," I answered. "But, at the same time, when Lady Adeline criticises Ideala severely, I am sure she deserves it. Her faults are patent enough, and most provoking, because she could correct them if she would. You don't know her well?"
"No."
"Ah! Then I understand why you do not like her. She is not a person who shows to advantage on a slight acquaintance, and in that she is just the reverse of most people; her faults are all on the surface and appear at once, her good qualities only come out by degrees."
"I feel reproved," Evadne answered, smiling. "But it is really hard to believe that the main fabric of a character is beautiful when one only sees the spoilt bits of it. You must be quite one of that clique," she added, in a tone which expressed "What a pity!" quite clearly.
"You are not interested in social questions?" I ventured.
"On the contrary," she answered decidedly, "I hate them all."