Between them, in vastly different degrees, these two
women seemed to have brought him back something of his youth.
The silence became noticeable, led him at last into a certain measure of
alarm.
"Lady Jane," he ventured, "have I said anything to offend you?"
"Of course not," she answered, looking at him kindly.
"You are very silent. Are you afraid that I am going to attempt to make
love to you?"
She was startled in earnest this time. She sat up and looked at him
disapprovingly. There was a touch of the old hauteur in her tone.
"How can you be so ridiculous!" she exclaimed.
"Would it be ridiculous of me?"
"Does it occur to you," she asked, "that I am the sort of person to
encourage attentions from a man who is not free to offer them?"
"I had forgotten that," he admitted, quite frankly. "Of course, I see
the point. I have a wife, even though of her own choosing she does not
count."
"She exists."
"So do I."
Jane broke into a little laugh.
"Now we are both being absurd," she declared, "and I don't want to be
and I don't want you to be.
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