"She too has her little place with the circus--it's the way we earn our living." Mr.Longdon said nothing for a moment and when he at last spoke it was almost with an air of contradiction.

"She's your mother to the life." His hostess, for three seconds, looked at him hard.

"Ah but with such differences! You'll lose it," she added with a headshake of pity.
He had his eyes only on Vanderbank.

"Well, my losses are my own affair." Then his face came back.

"Did she tell you I didn't like her ?" The indulgence in Mrs.Brook's view of his simplicity was marked.