“You are quite a stranger,” she said, with a little laugh, “and I have dined without you. I did not feel your loss, because the suprême de volaille was excellent. You see I am smoking. Take one?”
He deliberately seized the proffered cigarette-case, and threw it with all his force against the wall. She shrugged her shoulders and laughed again. “What a child you are! You remind me of Ronny, and yet you are no relative of his.”
“Are you a relative of his?” asked the colonel slowly, weighing every word as if he were afraid to trust his voice.
“Why, yes. Did I not tell you that he was my nephew?”
“And did you not tell me a lie?”
There was a pause, and they looked at one another as a duelist regards an opponent—neither anxious to begin, both on guard. Again she laughed.
“You are not very cheerful company this evening.”
“Then I will make my visit as short as possible.”
“Ah, you are paying me a visit, are you? You purpose obtaining a separation.”
“There is no necessity for a separation.”