"
She smiled--and the smile broke into a laugh, as though some transient
idea rather than his words had pleased her.
"You should apply to my cousin Selina for that," she said. "Every one
calls her most delightfully sympathetic."
"Sympathy," he remarked, "is either a heaven-sent joy--or a bore. It
depends upon the individual."
"That is either enigmatical or rude," she answered. "But, after all,
you don't know Selina."
"Why not?" he asked. "I have talked with her as long as with you--and I
feel that I know you quite well."
"I can't be responsible for your feelings," she said, a little
brusquely, "but I'm quite sure that I don't know you well enough to be
sitting here at tea with you even."
"I won't admit that," he answered, "but it was very nice of you to come.
"The fact of it was," she admitted, "my headache and appetite were
stronger than my sense of the conventions. Now that the former are
dissipated the latter are beginning to assert themselves. And so--"
She began to draw on her gloves. Just then a carriage with postilions
and ladies with luggage came clattering up the street.
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