CHAPTER IT
" A heat full of coldness; a sweet full 'of bitterness, a pain fuH cf plea.sant
ness, which maketh thoughts have eyes, and hearts, and ears This ia
love !"
Imogen, following her example, emerges into the fuller
glare of the lamps, and finding a fauteuil a little apart
from the others, takes possession of it. The men have not
yet tired of each other, and there is only a soft drowsy
hum of voices in the long room.
Patricia, sitting directly opposite, is evidently lost in a
somewhat exhausting argument with Miss Brown. The
latter, looking inane and passive, and oppressively tintless,
is giving way to harmless but annoying monosyllables;
whilst Patricia, leaning forward upon tihe arm of her chair,
is so bright, so animated, that the contrast between her
and her companion is almost too marked to be agreeable.
" I ami sure I don't know," lisps Miss Brown, being
pressed a little harder by her pretty antagonist.
" Ah no! that is not what yorr mean," cries Patricia
with decision. " One always knows ! One must have an
opinion, be it right or wrong. And I want yours to be
right on this point, or I fear you will find your visit here
a little dull. Now, I shall make you see it in a moment.
Suppose------"
So-and-so, and so-and-so. Patricia quite glows beneath
the force of her own argument, and is undismayed even
when Miss Brown, in her small, ladylike, obstinate way,
refuses to see the matter in her light. Patricia's charming
face is all alight, and she strikes her sister—who is intently
watching her—as being even more than ordinarily attrac¬
tive to-night.
30
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