And
the girls saw not only the looks, but the weapons which Lady Dauntrey
used to win the men for herself, when she ought to have been furthering
her guests' interests. They began to hate her, and soon realized that
she would not be able to introduce them to the "best set" at Monte
Carlo, as she had promised. Still they stayed on, hoping a little, for
other people were expected to join the house party, and there was a
chance yet of something better. Besides, they found a small and bitter
pleasure in seeing the disappointment and humiliation of the woman who
had been so sure of herself, and had, by the force of her own strong
personality, made them sure of her. Dodo and the Collises, travelling
out of their own country for the first time, had not--as they
acknowledged to each other now--"known the difference in foreigners." It
was only by the light in other women's eyes--women of good birth and
breeding--that they began to see Lady Dauntrey as she was, common, bold,
not a lady, one whom ladies would not care to receive.
Dodo also was common, and knew herself to be "nobody" at home, but she
had thought that she might "go down in England," if she could have the
right introductions. Now she saw that her money was being wasted at the
start; for though the Dauntreys attracted a certain set round them,
instinctively she, as well as the Collises, felt that it was not the
right set.
Even when, after ten days of Monte Carlo, the Villa Bella Vista was full
of the Dauntreys' paying guests, a cold sense of insecurity and trouble
to come, which would be worse by and by than the bitter disappointment
of the present, lay heavy upon Eve's heart.
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