Page:The Other House (London, William Heinemann, 1896), Volume 1.djvu/204

190 said, "you called me Rose and you called our friend there"—she made a movement in the direction Jean had taken—"nothing at all. Now you call her by name and you call me nothing at all."

Tony obligingly turned it over. "Don't I call you Miss Armiger?"

"Is that anything at all?" Rose effectively asked. "You're conscious of some great difference."

Tony hesitated; he walked on. "Between you and Jean?"

"Oh, the difference between me and Jean goes without saying. What I mean is the difference between my having been at Wilverley then and my being here now."

They reached the tea-table, and Tony, dropping into a chair, removed his hat. "What have I called you when we've met in London?"

She stood before him closing her parasol. "Don't you even know? You've called me nothing." She proceeded to pour out tea for him, busying herself delicately with Mrs. Beever's wonderful arrangements for keeping things hot. "Have you by any chance been conscious of what I've called you?" she said.