"Yes, of course that is the beginning of the business. We like each other
very well," Lady Geraldine replied, still with the same unenthusiastic air.
"I think there has always been some kind of liking between us. We suit each
other very well, you see; have the same way of thinking about most things,
take the same view of life, and so on."
Lady Laura gave a faint sigh of assent. She was disappointed by her
sister's tone; for in the time past she had more than once suspected that
Geraldine Challoner loved George Fairfax with a passionate half-despairing
love, which, if unrequited, might make the bane of her life. And, lo! here
was the same Geraldine discussing her engagement as coolly as if the match
had been the veriest marriage of convenience ever planned by a designing
dowager. She did not understand how much pride had to do with this
reticence, or what volcanic depths may sometimes lie beneath the Alpine
snows of such a nature as Geraldine Challoner's.
In the evening Lady Geraldine was the centre of a circle of old friends and
admirers; and Clarissa could only observe her from a distance, and wonder
at her brilliancy, her power to talk of anything and everything with an air
of unlimited wisdom and experience, and the perfect ease with which she
received the homage offered to her beauty and wit. The cold proud face
lighted up wonderfully at night, and under the softening influence of so
much adulation; and Lady Geraldine's smiles, though wanting in warmth
at the best, were very fascinating.
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