without putting his foot in it. He did not realise that there are some women with whom it is almost impossible for a man to talk insignificantly. Beneath their trivial words they are telling him all the while that they like him or dislike him, love him or loathe him. The personal equation is all that lives behind their conversation.
âHave a cigarette, and donât worry,â said Nadine. She produced a tiny gold case and held it out to him. âForgive their idiotic size.â
She struck a match. As the light flickered on her features, their perfection almost hurt him. Of course, it was beauty-parlour perfection. Therefore, not really perfection at all. He held on to that thought while he advanced his head to the light. She blew the match out as soon as he had used it, then struck another and lit her own cigarette from a greater distance.
They smoked for a few moments in silence. He had an agonising sensation that valuable seconds were slipping away, dropping irreclaimably into the void of time. Suddenly she raised her head.
âYes,âI rememberâone can just hear the music from this room,â she exclaimed. âHas it tantalised you, as it tantalised me when I was lying on that couch two years ago?â
âIâm not a great dancer,â he answered, âbut I like it.â
âYouâre cut out for the diplomatic service,â she smiled, âyou answer questions so tactfully! I could hardly lie still! There were better dancers that time than this. Apart from Mr. Taverleyâand even he trod on my foot onceââShe advanced a shoe and regarded the gold-sandalled toeââthereâs not a good dancer here. Well, Lord Avelingâs not badâbut the rest! Sir James dances with a sort of pompous caution. Mr. Pratt seems to have the one object of preventing you from knowing what steps heâs going to do next. I can usually follow anybody, but he beats me. Iâm sure itâs on purpose. Of course, his bosom companion, Mr. Bultin, doesnât dance at all. Or, if he does, he wonât. He just watches with a kind of insulting boredom. So I escaped him. Also Mr. Rowe. But Mr. Chaterâoh, my God! We almost came to blows!â
âHow does Mr. Chater dance?â inquired John, feeling that all this conversation was mere prelude. âI canât imagine him dancing attractively.â
âWhy not?â
âI donât know.â
âWell, youâre right, anyway. Heâhow can one describe it?âhe seems to press, and yet he doesnât. I think itâs because he is pressing with his mind. He was asking questionsâquite quietly and casuallyâall the time we danced.â She laughed. âHe even asked a question about us.â
âWhatâyou and me?â
âYou and me. He wanted to know whether weâd known each other a long while.â
âConfound the fellow! It wasnât his business!â
âSo I implied. Although he did it quite nicely. Shall I tell you what he reminds me of? A fairly intelligent wormâand after talking with fairly intelligent worms, I always feel I want a bath!â
âI suppose it was when you implied that it wasnât his business that you nearly came to blows?â asked John.
âNoâwe just survived that one. It was when he said, âDid I hear somebody say your husbandâs in the army?âââ
âIâsee,â murmured John.
âI believe you do,â she answered.
A wave of anger swept through him.
âThe manâs a cad!â he exclaimed. âWhatâs he doing here?â
âThatâs what Iâm wondering, Mr. Foss,â replied Nadine thoughtfully. âLord Aveling sometimes collects queer folk, but heâs rather excelled himself this week-endâIâve not come across Mr. Chaterâs type here before. By the wayâdo you know my husband isnât in the army?â
John