evidently felt that in the situation in which she had placed herself, her only advantage could consist in being simple and business-like.
"I 'm so glad to see you for a moment. I wish so much to ask you if you can give me any information about a person you know and about whom I have been in correspondence with Mrs. Dolphin. I mean Mrs. Headway."
"Won't you sit down?" asked Littlemore.
"No, I thank you. I have only a moment."
"May I ask you why you make this inquiry? "
"Of course I must give you my reason. I am afraid my son will marry her."
Littlemore was puzzled for a moment; then he felt sure that she was not yet aware of the fact imparted to him in Mrs. Headway's note. "You don't like her?" he said, exaggerating in spite of himself the interrogative inflexion.
"Not at all," said Lady Demesne, smiling and looking at him. Her smile was gentle, without rancor; Littlemore thought it almost beautiful.
"What would you like me to say?" he asked.
"Whether you think her respectable."
"What good will that do you? How can it possibly affect the event?"
"It will do me no good, of course, if your opinion is favorable. But if you tell me it is not, I shall be able to say to my son that the one person in London who has known her more than six months thinks her a bad woman."
