She could not possibly have taken it better.

Bad as the situation was, it might have been a hundred times worse except for Gabriella's composure, thought Mrs.Fowler discreetly, adding with an inexplicable regret, that in her youth women were different.

Yes, they had shown more feeling then, though they had behaved perhaps less well in a crisis.

In spite of her gratitude--and she was sincerely grateful to her daughter-in-law for not making a scene--she became conscious presently that she was beginning to cherish an emotion not unlike resentment on George's account.

That the discovery of George's faithlessness should be received so coolly by George's wife appeared almost an affront to him.