It
even carried a certain conviction with it, and the lookers-on felt the
impossibility of suggesting any such flaw by their own manner. For this
evening, at least, the man must actually be treated as if he were an
entirely unobjectionable person. It appeared as if that was what the
girl wanted, and intended should happen.
This was what Nigel himself had begun to perceive, but he did not put it
pleasantly. Deucedly clever girl as she was, he said to himself, she
saw that it would be more agreeable to have no nonsense talked, and no
ruffling of tempers. He had always been able to convey to people that
the ruffling of his temper was a thing to be avoided, and perhaps she
had already been sharp enough to realise this was a fact to be counted
with. She was sharp enough, he said to himself, to see anything.
The function was a superb one. The house was superb, the rooms of
entertainment were in every proportion perfect, and were quite renowned
for the beauty of the space they offered; the people themselves were,
through centuries of dignified living, so placed that intercourse with
their kind was an easy and delightful thing. They need never doubt
either their own effect, or the effect of their hospitalities.
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