"Do you live there?"
"Yes. Have you any objection?"
He disregarded her mocking query and continued:--
"A Miss Lermontof lives there. Is she, by any chance, a friend of
yours?" There seemed a hint of disapproval in his voice, and Diana
countered, with another question.
"Why? Do you think I ought not to be friends with her?"
"I? Oh, I don't think about it at all"--with a little half-foreign
shrug of his shoulders. "Miss Quentin's choice of friends is no
concern of mine."
Unbidden, tears leaped into Diana's eyes at the cold satirical tones.
Surely, surely he had hurt her enough, for one day! Without a word she
turned and made her way blindly out of the room and down the stairs.
In the hall she almost ran into Jerry's arms.
"Oh, are you going?" he asked, in tones of disappointment.
"Yea, I'm afraid I mustn't wait any longer for Adrienne. I have some
work to do when I get back."
Her voice shook a little, and Jerry, giving her a swift glance, could
see that her lashes were wet and her eyes misty with tears.
"The brute!" he ejaculated mentally. "What's he done to her?"
Aloud he merely said:--
"Will you have a taxi?"
She nodded, and hailing one that chanced to be passing, he put her
carefully into it.
"And--and I say," he said anxiously. "You didn't mind my talking to
you this afternoon, did you, Miss Quentin? I made 'rather free,' as
the servants say.
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