They did, and the result was disastrous. From the first moment everything had bewildered Laura Lou and roused her inarticulate resentment. She was used to Halo—didn't care a straw what she thought of anybody or anything… . Hadn't she seen her, for years, coming and going at the Willows? They were distant cousins too—Halo needn't have reminded her of that in her note! But she had never seen Mrs. Tarrant in this setting of New York luxury and elegance; she had never met Tarrant, who at once struck her as heartless and sardonic; she had never seen people like the other guests, men young and elderly, all on a footing of intimacy with their hosts, and talking carelessly, allusively, easily, of people and things that Laura Lou had never heard of… . She did not confess a word of this to Vance; she did not have to. Her face was like a clear pool reflecting every change in a shifting sky. He could measure, partly from his own memories, partly from his knowledge of her, the impact of every allusion, every unexpected gesture or turn of phrase of the people about her. The mere way in which the lunch was served was something to marvel at and be resented—didn't he know? ("Caviar? That what you call it—that nasty gray stuff that smelt like motor grease? No, I didn't touch it … When I watched you eating it I thought you'd be sick, sure… ." and so on.) For the rest, she took the adventure as something completely matter-of-course and not worth discussing, and remained coldly surprised, faintly ironic, and indifferent. Is that all? her attitude seemed to say. But how well he knew what was under it!

Since then he had never been back to Mrs. Tarrant's. What was the use? Not to see her at all was less of a privation seeing her like that… . She had sent him, a few days later, a note asking how the novel was getting on, and when he was coming to read the next chapters to her; and he had not answered. He did not know how to excuse himself from going to see her, and was resolved to avoid the torment of renewing their friendship. So the months passed, and they did not meet… .