"
An instant change passed over the countenance of that lady. It darkened,
and the eyes became cold and wary.
"Indeed? I didn't know you were acquainted with him."
"I never saw him till a few days ago. Then I saw him--in my uncle's
studio--with a woman--a woman to whom he is engaged."
Lady Dunstable started again.
"I think you must be mistaken," she said quickly, with a slight but
haughty straightening of her shoulders.
Doris shook her head.
"No, I am not mistaken. I will tell you--if you don't mind--exactly what
I have heard and seen."
And with a puckered brow and visible effort she entered on the story of
the happenings of which she had been a witness in Bentley's studio. She
was perfectly conscious--for a time--that she was telling it against a
dead weight of half scornful, half angry incredulity on Lady Dunstable's
part. Rachel Dunstable listened, indeed, attentively. But it was clear
that she resented the story, which she did not believe; resented the
telling of it, on her own ground, by this young woman whom she
disliked; and resented above all the compulsory discussion which it
involved, of her most intimate affairs, with a stranger and her social
inferior.
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