blue gown, intrigued the eye and the senses, just as the swiftly spoken
words challenged the brain and infused exasperation in the very midst
of admiration. The complicated elements of the girl offered a peculiar
fascination to the eternal instinct of study possessed by the young
American author.

'Miss Durwent,' he said, 'if I was sincere to-night, it was because you
encouraged me to be so.'

'But I said nothing.'

'Nevertheless, you were the inspiration.'

'I never knew a girl could accomplish so much by holding her tongue.'

A crash of 'Bravos' broke from the group around the piano; Pyford had
just scored a point.

'You know,' resumed Selwyn thoughtfully, 'a man doesn't go to a
dinner-party conscious of what he is going to say. It is the people he
meets that produce ideas in him, many of which he had never thought of
before.'

She tapped the ground with her foot, and looked smilingly at his
serious face. 'It is the reverse with me,' she said. 'I go out to
dinner full of ideas, and the people I meet inspire a silence in me of
unsuspected depth.'

'May I smoke?' asked Selwyn, calling a halt in the verbal duel.