Page:The venture; an annual of art and literature.djvu/70

 At the further end of the drawing-room, when she could control her voice, Mrs. Coltingham remarked. "This happens every night, directly Mrs. Villiers' name is mentioned. We are frank in discussion to say the least of it. But you see most of us have lived here all the winter, and perhaps we know one another a little too well."

Mrs. Lawrence smiled "It's amusing at first, but I can imagine it palls Who is this little 'Mrs. Villiers?

"No one knows, except that she has divorced Mr. Villiers, whoever he may be."

"She looks such a child!" "But children nowadays are precocious."

Mrs. Lawrence laughed. "You don't like her?"

"Oh! I didn't say that returned the other lady. Precocious children are sometimes amusing you know, and after four months in a foreign pension, one welcomes anything that's amusing. The house is torn by faction on her account." she went on still smiling.

"She has her devoted adherents, and her no less devoted enemies. Each party discusses her all day long, and I believe, far into the night. Every other topic fades into insignificance before the burning question of Mrs. Villiers' innocence and integrity, versus her depravity and guile."

"And to which side do you incline?"

Mrs. Coltingham shrugged her shoulders. "I—Oh, a plague on both your houses' is my attitude," she returned lightly. "To me she is merely an amusing little person."