"He looked very well the last time I saw him," replied Carrissima, at once on guard.
"When was that?"
"A few days ago!"
"You don't appear to have any interesting announcement to make," suggested Bridget, with expressive eyes on Carrissima's face. Now, Carrissima hesitated. She could easily have answered in such a way that her hostess, with all her audacity, would have been silenced.
"I haven't spoken to Mark," she faltered, "since your marriage."
"How disappointing!" cried Bridget. "So, after all my efforts you didn't follow the advice I gave you."
"No," said Carrissima.
"Why not?"
"Oh well, I couldn't," said Carrissima, and Bridget shrugged her shoulders as if to put the topic aside.
"Did the colonel tell you," she inquired, "that Jimmy is going to stand for Atlinghurst? Between us we are going to accomplish the most wonderful things. He always insists that his mind is too independent for the House of Commons, but I tell him a man must expect to sacrifice some of his independence when he marries."