"No, I don't say that. But she would think twice before marrying him."

"And then do it," said Mrs. Stamwell pensively, with eyes that seemed
looking far into the past.

"Yes, and quite right to do it," said Mrs. Brinkley. "I don't know that
we should be very proud ourselves if we confessed just what caught our
fancy in our husbands. For my part I shouldn't like to say how much a
light hat that Mr. Brinkley happened to be wearing had to do with the
matter."

The ladies broke into another laugh, and then checked themselves, so that
Mrs. Pasmer, coming out of the corridor upon them, naturally thought they
were laughing at her. She reflected that if she had been in their place
she would have shown greater tact by not stopping just at that instant.

But she did not mind. She knew that they talked her over, but having a
very good conscience, she simply talked them over in return. "Have you
seen my daughter within a few minutes?" she asked.

"She was with Mr. Mavering at the end of the piazza a moment ago," said
Mrs. Brinkley. "They must leave just gone round the corner of the
building."

"Oh," said Mrs. Pasmer. She had a novel, with her finger between its
leaves, pressed against her heart, after the manner of ladies coming out
on hotel piazzas. She sat down and rested it on her knee, with her hand
over the top.

Miss Cotton bent forward, and Mrs. Pasmer lifted her fingers to let her