original
half-suspicion, that this was her manner to people in general, justify
itself upon observation. She was civil, even excessively civil, to the
other two guests, but these ladies did not get the same eager and intent
smile that he could command. He reasoned it out that Plowden must have
said something pleasant to his mother about him--perhaps even to
the point of explaining that he was to be the architect of their
fortunes--but he did not like to ascribe all her hospitable warmth
to that. It was dear to him to believe that she liked him on his own
merits--and he did believe it, as his softened glance rested upon her
where she sat almost facing him in her padded, wicker chair--small,
white-haired, rosy-cheeked, her intelligent face radiating a kind of
alert placidity which somehow made him feel at home.

He had not been as much at home with the others. The Honourable Balder,
of course, didn't count; nobody paid attention to him, and least of all
a busy Rubber King. He gave not much more heed to the American--the tall
young woman with the red hair and the million and a half of dollars. She
was plainly a visitor like himself, not at all identified with the inner
life of the household. He fancied, moreover, that she in no way desired
to be thus identified. She seemed to carry herself with a deliberate
aloofness underlying her surface amiability. Then he had spoken his few
words with her, once or twice, he had got this effect of stony reserve
close beneath her smile and smooth words. True, this might mean only
that she felt herself out of her element, just as he did--but to him,
really it did not matter what she felt. A year ago--why, yes, even a
fortnight ago--the golden rumour of millions would have shone round
her auburn hair in his eyes like a halo. But all that was changed.
Calculated in a solidified currency, her reported fortune shrank to a
mere three hundred thousand pounds. It was a respectable sum for a woman
to have, no doubt, but it did nothing to quicken the cool indifference
with which he considered her.

The two other young women were different. They were seated together on a
sofa, so placed as regarded his point of view, that he saw only in
part the shadowed profiles of the faces they turned toward the piano.
Although it was not visible to him, the posture of their shoulders told
him that they were listening to the music each holding the other's
hand. This tacit embrace was typical in his mind of the