"Don't be offended," she begged. "That's just Betty's way of expressing herself. She's not trying to be insulting. I've known her since she was born, so you must believe me. We are not criticizing your father; he has his ideas and we have ours, but he is old and you are young, and he has lived by himself so long that he probably doesn't know quite what is fair to you. You see you aren't truly Chinese, Nancy; anybody could know that by looking at you. But he has been living so long with his Chinese books and all that,"—gracefully she included the concubines in the "all that,"—"as to have forgotten that you aren't Chinese."
Nancy was mollified, but Elizabeth, once aroused, did not like apologies being made for her own frankness.
"He might at least have tried to find an English husband for you," she declared.
"He did try," said Nancy, enjoying the sensation of her statement.
"He did try? When?" both sisters cried in unison.
"Last year, but—" Nancy added, with a faint spice of malice, "I was—rejected."
A light burst suddenly upon Elizabeth's eyes.
"Do you mean to say he asked Ronald?" she demanded.
"Yes."
This Western game of frankness had its triumphs even in defeat, Nancy was able to observe during the pause which ensued.