"
"He does not entertain very much, then?"
"Scarcely at all. The 'County'--do you know what I mean by the
'County?'--began by receiving him with open arms and ended by sending
him to Coventry. His lavish style of entertainment they labelled
'swank'--horrible word but very expressive! They concluded that they
did not understand him, and of everything they don't understand they
disapprove. So after the first month or so it became very lonely at
Cray's Folly. Our foreign servants--there are five of them altogether--
got us a dreadfully bad name. Then, little by little, a sort of cloud
seemed to settle on everything. The Colonel made two visits abroad, I
don't know exactly where he went, but on his return from the first
visit Madame de Staemer changed."
"Changed?--in what way?"
"I am afraid it would be hopeless to try to make you understand, Mr.
Knox, but in some subtle way she changed. Underneath all her vivacity
she is a tragic woman, and--oh, how can I explain?" Val Beverley made a
little gesture of despair.
"Perhaps you mean," I suggested, "that she seemed to become even less
happy than before?"
"Yes," she replied, looking at me eagerly.
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