"But Joan turned me down with a bang last night." Lady Splay plumped herself down on a chair in the hall.
"Oh, she is the most exasperating girl!" she cried.

"Are you sure that you didn't misunderstand her ?" "Quite." Lady Splay sat for a little while with her cheek propped upon her hand and her brows drawn together in a perplexity.
"It's very strange," she said at length.

"For Joan meant you to ask her to marry you.

She has been deliberately showing you that you weren't indifferent to her.

Joan would never have done that if she hadn't meant you to ask her; or if she hadn't meant to accept you." She rose with a gesture of despair.
"I give it up.