Hubert, too, turned his eyes, smiled, and made some reply; she had no understanding of what he said.

Had not force failed her she would have risen and left the room.

Her heart sank in yet crueller humiliation; she believed there were tears in her eyes, yet had no power to check them.

He was still addressing Mrs.Westlake; herself he deemed incapable of appreciating what he said.

Perhaps he even--the thought made clanging in her ears, like a rude bell--perhaps he even regarded her as a social inferior since her marriage.