An affable advance--a vague murmur that they must see more of each other--an allusive glance to a near future that was felt to include the Duchess as well as the Sabrina--how easily it was all done, if one possessed the knack of doing it! She wondered at herself, as she had so often wondered, that, possessing the knack, she did not more consistently exercise it.

But sometimes she was forgetful--and sometimes, could it be that she was proud?
Today, at any rate, she had been vaguely conscious of a reason for sinking her pride, had in fact even sunk it to the point of suggesting to Lord Hubert Dacey, whom she ran across on the Casino steps, that he might really get the Duchess to dine with the Brys, if SHE undertook to have them asked on the Sabrina.

Lord Hubert had promised his help, with the readiness on which she could always count: it was his only way of ever reminding her that he had once been ready to do so much more for her.

Her path, in short, seemed to smooth itself before her as she advanced; yet the faint stir of uneasiness persisted.

Had it been produced, she wondered, by her chance meeting with Selden?
She thought not--time and change seemed so completely to have relegated him to his proper distance.