that "dear Mrs. Ussher" or "darling Laura" was the kindest friend they
had ever had.

Her house party was therefore likely to be notable.

First, there was of course Mrs. Almar--of course without her husband.
There is only one thing, or perhaps two, to be said for Nancy Almar--that
she was very handsome and that she was not a hypocrite, no more than a
pirate is a hypocrite who comes aboard with his cutlass in his teeth.
Mrs. Almar's cutlass was always in her teeth, when it was not in
somebody's vitals.

She had smooth, jet-black hair, done close to her pretty head, a clear
white-and-vermilion complexion, and a good figure, not too tall. She said
little, but everything she did say, she most poignantly meant. If, while
you were talking to her, she suddenly cried out: "Ah, that's really
good!" there was no doubt you had had the good fortune to amuse her;
while if she yawned and left you in the midst of a sentence there was no
question that she was bored.

She hated her husband--not for the conventional reason that she had
married him. She hated him because he was a hypocrite, because he was
always placating and temporizing.

For instance, he had said to her as she was about to start for the
Usshers':

"I hope you'll explain to them why I could not come."

There had never been the least question of Mr. Almar's coming, and she