She laughed on an indulgent note, and Juliet smiled in sympathy.

“Well, you’ve given him good cause for that, haven’t you?  And you enjoyed the cruise?  I am so glad you had good weather.”

“It was gorgeous,” said Vera.  “I must write and tell Lord Saltash.  He has given me the time of my life.  Have you seen anything of him by the way?”

“Only once,” said Juliet.  “He came over to congratulate us.  But that is some time ago.  He may be at the other end of the world by this time.”

“No, I think not,” Vera said.  “I believe he is in England.  Was he—­at all upset by your marriage, Juliet?”

Juliet laughed a little.  “Oh, not in the least.  He keeps his heart in a very air-tight compartment I assure you.  I have never had the faintest glimpse of it.”

“But you are fond of him,” said Vera shrewdly.

“Oh yes, quite fond of him,” Juliet’s eyes had a kindly softness.  “I have never yet met the woman who wasn’t fond of Charles Rex,” she said.

“Does—­your husband like him?” asked Vera.

Juliet shook her head quizzically.  “No.  Husbands don’t as a rule.”

“Something of a poacher?” questioned Vera.

“Oh, not really.  Not since he grew up.  I believe he was very giddy in his youth, and then a girl he really cared for disappointed him.  So the story runs.  I can’t vouch for the truth of it, or even whether he ever seriously cared for her.  But he has certainly never been in earnest since.”

“What about Lady Joanna Farringmore?” said Vera suddenly.

Juliet was standing before the fire.  She bent slightly, the warm glow softly tinging her white neck.  “I should have thought that old fable might have died a natural death by this time,” she said.

Vera gave her a sharp look.  There was not actual distaste in Juliet’s tone, yet in some fashion it conveyed the impression that the subject was one which she had no desire to discuss.

Vera abandoned it forthwith.  “Suppose we go downstairs,” she said.

They went down to find Dick and Columbus patiently waiting in the hall.  Vera’s greeting was brief but not lacking in warmth.  The thought of Juliet married to the schoolmaster had ceased to provoke her indignation.  She even admitted to herself that in different surroundings Dick might have proved himself to possess a certain attraction.  She believed he was clever in an intellectual sense, and she believed it was by this quality that he had captivated Juliet.  The fiery force of the man, his almost fierce enthusiasms, she had never even seen.

But she was immediately aware of a subtle and secret link between the two as they all met together in the genial glow of the fire.  Dick’s eyes that flashed for a second to Juliet and instantly left her, told her very clearly that no words were needed to establish communion between them.  They were in close sympathy.

She gave Dick a warmer welcome than she had ever extended to him before, and found in the instant response of his smile some reason for wonder at her previous dislike.  Perhaps contact with Juliet had helped to banish the satire to which in the old days she had so strongly objected.  Or perhaps—­but this possibility did not occur to her—­he sensed a cordiality in the atmosphere which had never been present before.