On her part, Diana regarded Adrienne with the enthusiastic devotion
which an older woman--more especially if she happens to be very
beautiful and occupying a somewhat unique position--frequently inspires
in one younger than herself, and Olga Lermontof's grave warning might
just as well have been uttered to the empty air. Diana's warm-hearted,
spontaneous nature swept it aside with an almost passionate loyalty and
belief in her new-found friend.
Once Miss Lermontof had referred to it rather disagreeably.
"So you've decided to make a friend of Miss de Gervais after all?" she
said.
"Yes. And I think you've misjudged her utterly," Diana warmly assured
her. "Of course," she added, sensitively afraid that the other might
misconstrue her meaning, "I know you believed what you were saying, and
that you only said it out of kindness to me. But you were
mistaken--really you were."
"Humph!" The Russian's eyes narrowed until they looked like two slits
of green fire. "Humph! I was wrong, was I? Nevertheless, I'm
perfectly sure that Adrienne de Gervais' past is a closed book to
you--although you call yourself her friend!"
Diana turned away without reply. It was true--Olga Lermontof had laid
a finger on the weak spot in her friendship with Adrienne. The latter
never talked to her of her past life; their mutual attachment was built
solely around the present, and if by chance any question of Diana's
accidentally probed into the past, it was adroitly parried.
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