really believed so little. She knew men, and she said to herself, as she
had said to Robin, that for them beauty lies in the epidermis.

"Hullo, Vi, lookin' in the glass! 'Pon my soul, your vanity's disgustin'.
A plain woman like you ought to keep away from such things--leave 'em to
the Mrs. Wolfsteins--what?"

Lady Holme turned round in time to see her husband's blunt, brown
features twisted in the grimace which invariably preceded his portentous
laugh.

"I admire Mrs. Wolfstein," she said.

The laugh burst like a bomb.

You admire another woman! Why, you're incapable of it. The Lord defend me
from hypocrisy, and there's no greater hypocrisy than one woman takin'
Heaven to witness that she thinks another a stunnin' beauty."

"You know nothing about it, Fritz. Mrs. Wolfstein's eyes would be lovely
if they hadn't that pawnbroking expression."

"Good, good! Now we're goin' to hear the voice of truth. Think it went
well, eh?"

He threw himself down on a sofa and began to light a cigarette.

"The evening? No, I don't."

"Why not?"