How it happened that Rosamund divined something of the situation is not
quite clear; but she always had a delicate nose for anything not
intended for her, and the thing amused her immensely, particularly
because what viciousness had been so long suppressed in Neergard was now
tentatively making itself apparent in his leering ease among women he so
recently feared.
This, also, was gall and wormwood to Ruthven, so long the official
lap-dog of the very small set he kennelled with; and the women of that
set were perverse enough to find Neergard amusing, and his fertility in
contriving new extravagances for them interested these people, whose
only interest had always been centred in themselves.
Meanwhile, Neergard had almost finished with Gerald--he had only one
further use for him; and as his social success became more pronounced
with the people he had crowded in among, he became bolder and more
insolent, no longer at pains to mole-tunnel toward the object desired,
no longer overcareful about his mask.
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