'He met her at some promiscuous party—I asked him about it afterwards. She is not a person he could ever think of seriously.'
'That's exactly what I believe.'
'You don't observe—you imagine,' Mrs. Nettlepoint pursued. 'How do you reconcile her laying a trap for Jasper with her going out to Liverpool on an errand of love?'
'I don't for an instant suppose she laid a trap; I believe she acted on the impulse of the moment. She is going out to Liverpool on an errand of marriage; that is not necessarily the same thing as an errand of love, especially for one who happens to have had a personal impression of the gentleman she is engaged to.'
'Well, there are certain decencies which in such a situation the most abandoned of her sex would still observe. You apparently judge her capable—on no evidence—of violating them.'
'Ah, you don't understand the shades of things,' I rejoined. 'Decencies and violations—there is no need for such heavy artillery! I can perfectly imagine that without the least immodesty she should have said to Jasper on the balcony, in fact if not in words—"I'm in dreadful spirits, but if you come I shall feel better, and that will be pleasant for you too."'
'And why is she in dreadful spirits?'
'She isn't!' I replied, laughing.
'What is she doing?'
'She is walking with your son.'
Mrs Nettlepoint said nothing for a moment; then she broke out, inconsequently—'Ah, she's horrid!'
'No, she's charming!' I protested.
