So much the previous evening had told her.

Mrs.
Trenor, true to her simple principle of making 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 the match-maker, she had separated Lily and Mr.Gryce, sending in the former with George 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 mournful dyspeptic, intent on finding out the deleterious ingredients 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 low murmurs with Selden, and turning a contemptuous and denuded shoulder toward her host, who, far from resenting his exclusion, plunged into the excesses of the MENU with the joyous irresponsibility of a free man.