d over in her restless mind,
which was always at work in a desultory but often clever way. She could
not help being clever. She had never studied, never applied herself,
never consciously tried to master anything, but she was quick-witted,
had always lived among brilliant and highly cultivated people, had seen
everything, been everywhere, known everyone, looked into all the books
that had been talked about, cast at least a glance at all the pictures
which had made any stir. And she gathered impressions swiftly, and,
moreover, had a natural flair for all that was first-rate, original, or
strange. As she was quite independent in mind, and always took her own
line, she had become an arbiter, a leader of taste. What she liked soon
became liked in London and Paris throughout a large circle.
Unfortunately, she was changeable and apt to be governed by personal
feeling in matters connected with art. When she cast away an artist she
generally cast away his art with him. If it was first-rate she did not
condemn it as bad. She contented herself with saying that she was "sick
of it." And very soon a great many of her friends, and their friends,
were sick of it, too. She was a quicksand because she was a singularly
complete egoist. But very few people who met her failed to come under
the spell of her careless charm, and many, because she had much impulse,
swore that she had a large heart. Only to her husband, and occasionally,
in a fit of passion, to someone who she thought had treated her badly,
did she show a lachrymose side of her nature. She was noted for her
gaiety and _joie de vivre_ and for the energy with which she pursued
enjoyment. Her cynicism did not cut deep, her irony was seldom poisoned.
She spoke well of people, and was generous with her money. With her time
she was less generous. She was not of those who are charitable with
their golden hours. "I can't be bothered!" was the motto of her life.
And wise people did not bother her.

She had seen that, for a moment, Claude Heath had been tempted by the
invitation to the cruise. A sudden light had gleamed in his eyes, and
her swift apprehension had gathered something of what was passing in his
imagination. But almost immediately the light had vanished and the quick
refusal had come. And she knew that it was a refusal which she could not
persuade him to cancel unless she called someone to her assistance. His
austerity, which attracted her whimsical and unscrupulous nature,