After that, I did what I ought to have done before, just had a talk with Mamma.' 'Then you took it for granted, without any evidence, that I came here as a meddler or busybody ?' His voice was perfectly good-humoured, and Alma answered in the same tone.
'I _thought_ there was evidence.

Mamma had been talking about her affairs, and mentioned that she had consulted you about something--Oh, about Mrs.Abbott.' 'Very logical, I must say,' remarked Rolfe, laughing.
'I don't think logic is my strong point.' She sat far back in the easy chair, her head supported, her hands resting upon the chair arms.

The languor which she hardly made an effort to overcome began to invade her companion, like an influence from the air; he gazed at her, perceiving a new beauty in the half-upturned face, a new seductiveness in the slim, abandoned body.

A dress of grey silk, trimmed with black, refined the ivory whiteness of her flesh; its faint rustling when she moved affected Harvey with a delicious thrill.
'There's no reason, now,' she continued, 'why we shouldn't talk about it--I mean, the things you discussed with Mamma.

You imagine, I dare say, that I selfishly objected to what she was doing.