So she gracefully skirted the question.
"He has the same effect upon me as snails," she explained airily.
Then, as if to salve her conscience, she gave the reason, but disguised,
so that he did not recognize it.
"I have seen more of M. de Chauxville than you have," she said gravely.
"He is one of those men of whom women do see more. When men are present
he loses confidence, like a cur when a thoroughbred terrier is about. He
dislikes you. I should take care to give M. de Chauxville a wide berth
if I were you, Paul."
She had risen, after glancing at the clock. She turned down the page of
her book, and looking up suddenly, met his eyes, for a moment only.
"We are not likely to drop into a close friendship," said Paul. "But--he
is coming to Thors, twenty miles from Osterno."
There was a momentary look of anxiety in the girl's eyes, which she
turned away to hide.
"I am sorry for that," she said. "Does Herr Steinmetz know it?"
"Not yet."
Maggie paused for a moment. She was tracing with the tip of her finger a
pattern stamped on the binding of the book. It would seem that she had
something more to say. Then suddenly she went away without saying it.
In the meantime Claude de Chauxville had gently led the Countess
Lanovitch to invite him to stay to dinner. He accepted the invitation
with becoming reluctance, and returned to the Hotel de Berlin, where he
was staying, in order to dress.
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