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Perhaps it was not, Lily reflected; but it should be soon, unless she had lost her cunning If Selden had come at Mrs Dorset's call, it was at her own that he would stay Sohad told her Mrs Trenor, true to her si her married friends happy, had placed Selden and Mrs Dorset next to each other at dinner; but, in obedience to the time-honoured traditions of thein the fore Dorset, while Mr Gryce was coupled with Gwen Van Osburgh
George Dorset's talk did not interfere with the range of his neighbour's thoughts He was a redients of every dish and diverted from this care only by the sound of his wife's voice On this occasion, however, Mrs Dorset took no part in the general conversation She sat talking in lowa contemptuous and denuded shoulder toward her host, who, far froed into the excesses of the MENU with the joyous irresponsibility of a free man To Mr Dorset, however, his wife's attitude was a subject of such evident concern that, when he was not scraping the sauce fro the moist bread-cru his thin neck for a glihts
Mrs Trenor, as it chanced, had placed the husband and wife on opposite sides of the table, and Lily was therefore able to observe Mrs Dorset also, and by carrying her glance a few feet farther, to set up a rapid comparison between Lawrence Selden and Mr Gryce It was that corown interested in Selden? She had known hiht years or more: ever since her return to Around She had always been glad to sit next to hireeable than uely wished that he possessed the other qualities needful to fix her attention; but till now she had been too busy with her own affairs to regard him as more than one of the pleasant accessories of life Miss Bart was a keen reader of her own heart, and she saw that her sudden preoccupation with Selden was due to the fact that his presence shed a new light on her surroundings Not that he was notably brilliant or exceptional; in his own profession he was surpassed by h many a weary dinner It was rather that he had preserved a certain social detach points of contact outside the great gilt cage in which they were all huddled for the e appeared to Lily, as she heard its door clang on her! In reality, as she knew, the door never clanged: it stood always open; butonce flown in, could never regain their freedootten the way out