It seemed like a
long, silent duel with invisible weapons, so she said. And it was
rendered all the more difficult by the girl's entire innocence. For
Nancy was always trying to go off alone with Edward--as she had
been doing all her life, whenever she was home for holidays. She
just wanted him to say nice things to her again.
You see, the position was extremely complicated. It was as
complicated as it well could be, along delicate lines. There was
the complication caused by the fact that Edward and Leonora
never spoke to each other except when other people were present.
Then, as I have said, their demeanours were quite perfect. There
was the complication caused by the girl's entire innocence; there
was the further complication that both Edward and Leonora really
regarded the girl as their daughter. Or it might be more precise to
say that they regarded her as being Leonora's daughter. And Nancy
was a queer girl; it is very difficult to describe her to you.
She was tall and strikingly thin; she had a tortured mouth,
agonized eyes, and a quite extraordinary sense of fun. You, might
put it that at times she was exceedingly grotesque and at times
extraordinarily beautiful.
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