"But you do not like her," he persisted.

She shrugged her shoulders slightly.

"I am afraid it is true," she agreed.

"You admit that and yet you are willing to be her guest?"

She smiled at him approvingly.

"If there is one masculine quality which I do appreciate," she said,
"it is directness. I come because I love bridge and because I love
my fellow-creatures and because my own friends are none too
numerous. With the exception of those worthy friends of our host and
his wife who are seated upon your right--Mr. and Mrs. Horsman, I
believe they are called--we are all of the same ilk. Mr. Starling no
one knows anything about; Count Sabatini's record is something
awful."

"But there is Rosario," Arnold protested.

"Rosario goes into all the odd corners of the world," she replied.
"Sometimes the corners are respectable and sometimes they are not.
It really doesn't matter so far as he is concerned. Supposing, in
return for all this information, you tell me something about
yourself?"

"There isn't anything to tell," Arnold assured her. "I was asked
here to fill up. I am an employee of Mr. Weatherley's."