But still she was taken aback.
"Why do you say that, I wonder ?" she asked, half reproachfully.

"I have been behaving myself quite nicely--I have indeed; at least, as nicely as I knew how." Lady Winterbourne's tragic air yielded to a slow smile.
"You look very well, my dear.

That white becomes you charmingly; so do the pearls.

I don't wonder that Aldous always knows where you are." Marcella raised her eyes and caught those of Aldous fixed upon her from the other side of the room.

She blushed, smiled slightly, and looked away.
"Who is that tall man just gone up to speak to him ?" she asked of her companion.
"That is Lord Wandle," said Lady Winterbourne, "and his plain second wife behind him.