that the sweetness was far from sugary; there were indications of a
determination that reached stubbornness; already there were faint
lines--skilfully covered--at the corners of her eyes, and she was
palpably, physically, weary. It was that, he decided, which gave her
the wistful charm. That and something more. She was considered, he
knew, and by the judges best qualified, to have a very sure and perfect
talent; and he had no doubt that that possession stamped and qualified
her.

He was obliged to attend to the cocktails; and, at his back, a gay
chatter of voices rose. He had fleeting impressions of very different
people: a strange man in naval uniform with the insignia of a
commander; Anette in a scanty sheath of satin from which an airy skirt
spread to the left like a fan; Alice Lucian sitting on the steps with
George Willard: Frank Carver remote and lost in his bitter thoughts;
Elsie Wayland with the gold halo of an income almost a dollar a minute.

Mina Raff, with Peyton Morris at her shoulder, smiled at him. "What an
adorable house," she pronounced; "I wish I could have it near the
studio." She waved Peyton away unceremoniously, "Come, everybody has
had enough drinks, and show it to me." They passed through the hall,
and into the quiet of the space beyond, lighted by a single unobtrusive
lamp. "What a satisfactory fireplace!" she exclaimed in her faint key,
as though, Lee thought, her silent acting were depriving her of voice.
She sank onto the cushioned bench against the partition. "How did they
feel, do you suppose--the people, the men and women, who belonged to
such things?" As Lee watched her it seemed that she grew more remote,
shadowy, like a memory of long vanished beauty made before his eyes
from the shifting firelight and immaterial shadows. Mina Raff lost her
reality in an unreal charm that compressed his heart. The atmosphere