Page:The Siege of London, The Pension Beaurepas, and The Point of View (Boston, James R. Osgood & Co., 1883).djvu/121

Rh do something, you know. I 'm sorry for you; but I don't see how you can get off. You might ask me to dine some day when she 's dining out. I would come even then, I think, because I want to keep on the right side of you."

"I call that the wrong side," said Littlemore.

"Yes, I see. It 's your sister that 's on the right side. You 're in rather an embarrassing position, ain't you? However, you take those things very quietly. There 's something in you that exasperates me. What does your sister think of me? Does she hate me?"

"She knows nothing about you."

"Have you told her nothing?"

"Never a word."

"Has n't she asked you? That shows that she hates me. She thinks I ain't creditable to America. I know all that. She wants to show people over here that, however they may be taken in by me, she knows much better. But she 'll have to ask you about me; she can't go on for ever. Then what 'll you say?"

"That you're the most successful woman in Europe."

"Oh, bother!" cried Mrs. Headway, with irritation.

"Have n't you got into European society? "

"Maybe I have, maybe I have n't. It 's too soon to see. I can't tell this season. Every one says I 've got to wait till next, to see if it 's the same. Sometimes they take you up for a few weeks, and then never know you again. You 've got to fasten the thing somehow—to drive in a nail."