The priest
was a lovely old man--he said he'd give anything to convert me. Do you
know, I think there's something very beautiful about the Roman Catholic
religion? I've often felt I might have been happier if I'd had some
religious influence in my life."
She sighed a little, and turned her head away. She flattered herself
that she had learned to strike the right note with Van Degen. At this
crucial stage he needed a taste of his own methods, a glimpse of the
fact that there were women in the world who could get on without him.
He continued to gaze down at her sulkily. "Were the old people there?
You never told me you knew his mother."
"I don't. They weren't there. But it didn't make a bit of difference,
because Raymond sent down a cook from the Luxe."
"Oh, Lord," Van Degen groaned, dropping down on the end of the sofa.
"Was the cook got down to chaperon you?"
Undine laughed. "You talk like Ralph! I had Bertha with me."
"BERTHA!" His tone of contempt surprised her. She had supposed that Mrs.
Shallum's presence had made the visit perfectly correct.
"You went without knowing his parents, and without their inviting you?
Don't you know what that sort of thing means out here? Chelles did it
to brag about you at his club. He wants to compromise you--that's his
game!"
"Do you suppose he does?" A flicker of a smile crossed her lips. "I'm
so unconventional: when I like a man I never stop to think about such
things.
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