Wilmay and Other Stories of Women/The Forgiveness of the Dead

THE FORGIVENESS OF THE DEAD

Chapter I.The dinner-table had been laid, not in the great dining-room, but in the little boudoir. The parlour-maid—a tall, pretty girl—had waited on the two women—hostess and guest. The hostess was Lady Cathay, the guest Mrs. Hubert Vane; both had been detained in London after the London Season was over; both were young (thirty-three in the morning and twenty-nine in the evening), and both were beautiful.
"No men!" said Mrs. Vane solemnly, as she helped herself to four white Muscat grapes.
"None—not even to wait on us. I saw to that. It is our holiday—the feminine equivalent of the bachelor dinner."
"How delightful! I—I don't want to see anything male for some time. When I got your telegram this morning I was overjoyed. I'd thought that I was quite alone in London, and I'm so thankful to Jean Carton for having kept you too."
"Yes, I have to see dear Jean's wedding." Lady Cathay sighed deeply. "It is rather untidy of her to get married in London at the end of August, but I was so fond of her. Poor Jean! I'm sorry that your own reason for waiting is so much more sad."
"Même chose—you wait for a wedding, and I for a funeral."
"Bertha, how shocking!

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