Crawford, Constance's mother-in-law, who could have done that thing in
just that way; no one who felt herself detached, or, in a sense,
superior enough, to have done it without a trace of self-consciousness,
and consequently without offense. An empress must do things a good deal
like that.

The effect on Rose was to make complete frankness seem the easiest thing
in the world. And frankness seemed to be the thing called for. Because
no sooner were they seated in the actress' car and headed north along
the drive, than she, instead of answering Rose's question, repeated one
of her own.

"I ask who you are, and you say your name--Rose something. But that
tells me nothing. Who are you--one of them?"

"No, not exactly," said Rose. "Only by accident. The man I married
is--one of them, in a way. I mean, because of his family and all that.
And so they take me in."

"So you are married," said the French woman. "But not since long?"

"Six months," said Rose.

She said it so with the air of regarding it as a very considerable
period of time that Gréville laughed.

"But tell me about him then, this husband of yours. I saw him perhaps at
the tea this afternoon?"

Rose laughed. "No, he draws the line at teas," she said. "He says that