"You"re--you"re positively sacrilegious!"
"And you"re disgracefully sentimental."
She finished her tea and sat back, regarding her neat boots.
"Walter Blake"s back in town," she went on.
"He"s been yachting, hasn"t he?"
"Yes, for nearly two months. I met him at the Selfords"."
A moment"s pause followed.
"There was some talk----" began Kate Raymore tentatively.
"It was nonsense. There"s some talk about everybody."
Kate laughed.
"Oh, come, speak for yourself, Christine."
"The Imasons are down in the country."
"And Walter Blake"s in town? Ah, well!" Kate sighed thankfully.
"In town--and at the Selfords"." She spoke with evident significance.
Kate raised her brows.
"Well, it can"t be Janet Selford, can it?" smiled Christine.
"I think he"s a dangerous man."
"Yes--he"s so silly."
"You do mean--Anna?"
"I"ve said all I mean, Kate. Anna has come on very much of late. I"ve dressed her, you know."
"Oh, that you can do!"
"That"s why I"m such a happy woman. Teach Eva to dress badly!"
Again Kate"s brows rose in remonstrance or question.
"Oh, no, I don"t mean it, of course. What would be the good, when most men don"t know the difference?"
"You"re certainly a good corrective to idealism."
"I ought to be. Well, well, Anna can look after herself."
"It isn"t as if one positively knew anything against him."
"One might mind one"s own business, even if one did," Christine observed.
"Oh, I don"t quite agree with you there. If one saw an innocent girl----"
"Eva? Oh, you mothers!"
"I suppose I was thinking of her. Christine, did Sibylla ever----?"
"Not the least, I believe," said Christine with infinite composure.
"It"s no secret Walter Blake did."
"Are there any secrets?" asked Christine. "It"d seem a pity to waste anything by making a secret of it. One can always get a little comfort by thinking of the pleasure one"s sins have given. It"s really your duty to your neighbour to be talked about. You know Harriet Courtland"s begun her action? There"ll be no defence, I suppose?"
"Has she actually begun? How dreadful! Poor Tom! John tried to bring her round, didn"t he?"
A curious smile flickered on Christine"s lips. "Yes, but that didn"t do much good to anybody."
"She flew out at him, I suppose?"
"So I understood." Christine was smiling oddly still.
"And what will become of those unhappy children?"
"They have their mother. If nature makes mistakes in mothers, I can"t help it, Kate."
"Is she cruel to them?"
"I expect so--but I daresay it"s not so trying as a thoroughly well-conducted home."
"Really it"s lucky you"ve no children," laughed Kate.
"Really it is, Kate, and you"ve hit the truth," Christine agreed.
Kate Raymore looked at the pretty and still youthful face, and sighed.
"You"re too good really to say that."
Christine shrugged her shoulders impatiently.
"Perhaps I meant lucky for the children, Kate," she smiled.
"And I suppose it means ruin to poor Tom? Well, he"s been very silly. I met him with the woman myself."
"Was she good-looking?"