When her flat had been newly decorated, newly furnished for her, she had boasted of its comforts to every man she met.

Nearly all of them had said that they liked it.

It was clean then, and all they had appreciated was the cleanliness.

But she had not known that.

She thought they had approved of her taste.
So, with this narrow knowledge of the sex, she had made her bid for security and failed.
And he, when he saw the drop in her face, when he saw features and expression fall from the lofty height of anticipation as a pile of cards topple in a mass upon the table, he was sorry.