"At all events I am not so vain as you are, Hilda," retorted the Comtesse. "You approve of yourself eternally, whether all the world hates you or not. I remember Charlie Barrington saying of you once—'I wonder why that woman keeps straight—why should she? She don't care a hang what anybody says of her.'"
"How discerning of Lord Barrington! If people only 'keep straight' for the sake of what other people say of them, I think they may just as well 'go off the rails' in any manner they like. Certainly, what I chose to do, I should do, without reference to the approbation of the mob—either of the streets or of the drawing-rooms."
"Exactly what Barrington said," returned Madame Mila; "but then why do you—I mean, why don't you—amuse yourself?"
The Lady Hilda laughed.
"My dear! the Gommeux and the Poisseux would not amuse me. I am not so happily constituted as you are."
Madame Mila coloured.
"That's all very fine talk, but you know it isn't natural———"
