Page:The Painted Veil - Maugham - 1925.djvu/122

 “I’ve always heard that they were a devoted couple,” said Kitty, watching him through her eyelashes.

“He’s very fond of her: I will give him that credit. I think that is the most decent thing about him.”

“Cold praise.”

“He has his little flirtations, but they’re not serious. He’s much too cunning to let them go to such lengths as might cause him inconvenience. And of course he isn’t a passionate man; he’s only a vain one. He likes admiration. He’s fat and forty now, he does himself too well, but he was very good-looking when he first came to the Colony. I’ve often heard his wife chaff him about his conquests.”

“She doesn’t take his flirtations very seriously?”

“Oh, no, she knows they don’t go very far. She says she’d like to be able to make friends of the poor little things who fall to Charlie; but they’re always so common. She says it’s really not very flattering to her that the women who fall in love with her husband are so uncommonly second-rate.”

HEN Waddington left her Kitty thought over what he had so carelessly. said. It hadn’t been very pleasant to hear and she had had to make something of an effort not to show how much it touched her. It was bitter to think that