Part 4 (1/2)
”Do I know them?”
”Probably. Mrs. Ackroyde?”
”I know her.”
”Lady Archie Brook?”
”Her, too.”
”I've also seen Lady Wrackley.”
”I have met Lady Wrackley, but I can hardly say I know her. Still, she shows her teeth at me when I come into a room where she is.”
”They are wonderful teeth, aren't they?”
”Astonis.h.i.+ng!”
”And they are her own--not by purchase.”
”Are you sure she doesn't owe for them?”
”Positive; except, of course, to her Creator. Isn't it wonderful to think that those three women are contemporaries of Lady Sellingworth?”
”Indeed it is! But surely you didn't let them know that you knew they were? Or shall I say know they are?”
She smiled, showing perfect teeth, and shook her corn-coloured head.
”You see, I'm so young and live in Paris! And then I'm American. They have no idea how much I know. I just let them suppose that I only knew they were old enough to remember Lady Sellingworth when she was still a reigning beauty. I implied that _they_ were buds then.”
”And they accepted the implication?”
”Oh, they are women of the world! They just swallowed it very quietly, as a well-bred person swallows a small easy-going bonbon.”
Craven could not help laughing. As he did so he saw in Miss Van Tuyn's eyes the thought:
”You think me witty, and you're not far out.”
”And did you glean any knowledge of Lady Sellingworth?” he asked.
”Oh, yes; quite a good deal. Mrs. Ackroyde showed me a photograph of her as she was about eleven years ago.”
”A year before the plunge!”
”Yes. She looked very handsome in the photograph. Of course, it was tremendously touched up. Still, it gave me a real idea of what she must once have been. But, oh! how she has changed!”
”Naturally!”
”I mean in expression. In the photograph she looks vain, imperious. Do you know how a woman looks who is always on the watch for new lovers?”
”Well--yes, I think perhaps I do.”