Leaving grandmothers and great-aunts in a sadly unfinished state she was lightly off into a story of something which had once happened to her and Ann in Rome.
But Ann was as an actor refusing to play her part.

Perhaps she was too resentfully conscious of its being but a part--of her having no approach save through a part.

For the first time she failed in that adaptability which had always made the stories plausible.

In the midst of her tale Katie met Ann's eyes, and faltered.

They were mocking eyes.
As best she could she turned the conversation to local affairs, for Miss Osborne was looking curiously at Miss Jones' unresponsive friend.
And as Ann for the first time seemed deliberately--yes, maliciously to fail--Katie for the first time felt out of patience, and injured.