Lady Parham greeted the hostess with effusion. It was a rich house, and
these small, informal dances were said to be more helpful to matrimonial
development than larger affairs. Then she perceived Ashe, and her whole
manner changed. There was a very evident bristling, and she gave him a
greeting deliberately careless.
"Confound the woman!" thought Ashe, and his own pride rose.
"Working as hard as usual, Lady Parham?" he asked her, with a smile.
"If you like to put it so," was the stiff reply. "There is, of course, a
good deal of going out."
"I hope, if I may say so, you don't allow Lord Parham to do too much of
it."
"Lord Parham never was better in his life," said Lord Parham's spouse,
with the air of putting down an impertinence.
"That's good news. I must say when I saw him this afternoon I thought he
seemed to be feeling his work a good deal."
"Oh, he's worried," said Lady Parham, sharply. "Worried about a good
many things." She turned suddenly, and looked at her companion--an
insolent and deliberate look.
"Ah, that's where the wives come in!" replied Ashe, unperturbed. "Look
at Mrs. Loraine. She has the art to perfection--hasn't she? The way she
cushions Loraine is something wonderful to see.
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