rt had never confided
in him about her, odder still that there had been no talk of her in the
Bloomsbury house since the night on which Henry and Ninian had discussed
Gilbert's outburst of anger when her name was mentioned. Gilbert, could
be very secretive, Henry thought....

"She's very beautiful," he said aloud.

Gilbert nodded his head.

"Very beautiful!" Henry repeated.

"You're an impressionable young fellow, Quinny!" said Gilbert. "I won't
call you 'sloppy' again because I'm tired of telling you that, but
really that's what you are. You've only got to see a beautiful woman for
a couple of seconds and you start buzzing round her like a bumble bee.
Of course, I'm sloppy myself. We're all sloppy. Damn it, here we are,
two healthy young fellows who ought to be working hard, and we're
wasting a fine morning in gabbling about women...."

"Not women, Gilbert! Lady Cecily!..."

"Lady Cecily! Lady Cecily!..." He stopped suddenly and turned to Henry.
"I suppose you know about her and me?" he said.

"Very little," Henry answered.

"Let's have some tea. Well go in here!" The abrupt change disconcerted
Henry for a moment or two, but he followed Gilbert into the tea-shop.

"I can see you're ready to fall in love with her," Gilbert said, as they
drank their tea.

"Don't be an old ass!" Henry replied, feeling confused.

"She'll ask you to come and see her, and you'll waste a lot of time next
week trying to meet her...."

Henry laughed nervously. "You're rather ridiculous, Gilbert," he said.
"I've never seen Lady Cecily before. I'm just interested in her because
she's so beautiful. That's natural enough, isn't it?"

"Oh, yes, it's natural enough, and Lady Cecily will like your interest
in her beauty!"

The bitterness of his tone was remarkable. Henry felt, as he listened to
him, that there were open wounds....

"Don't call her Cecily until you've known her two days," Gilbert went
on. "She's very particular about that sort of thing. And don't fall too
much in love. It'll take you longer to get over it than it took me!"

"I hate to hear you talking like that, Gilbert. Anybody'd think you were
a dried-up old rip. You're frightfully cynical...."

"That's because I'm so young, Quinny. I'm younger than you are, you know
... six months ... but I'll grow up. I _will_ grow up, Quinny, I swear I
will, and get full of the milk of lovingkindness. Pass the meringues.
They play the devil with my inside, but I like them and