She turned her eyes from Olive to Verena; then
she said, "Doesn't it seem as if we had room for all? When I remember
what I have seen in the South, Mr. Ransom's being here strikes me as a
great triumph."
Olive evidently failed to understand, and Verena broke in with
eagerness, "It was by my letter, of course, that you knew we were here.
The one I wrote just before we came, Olive," she went on. "Don't you
remember I showed it to you?"
At the mention of this act of submission on her friend's part Olive
started, flashing her a strange look; then she said to Basil that she
didn't see why he should explain so much about his coming; every one had
a right to come. It was a very charming place; it ought to do any one
good. "But it will have one defect for you," she added; "three-quarters
of the summer residents are women!"
This attempted pleasantry on Miss Chancellor's part, so unexpected, so
incongruous, uttered with white lips and cold eyes, struck Ransom to
that degree by its oddity that he could not resist exchanging a glance
of wonder with Verena, who, if she had had the opportunity, could
probably have explained to him the phenomenon. Olive had recovered
herself, reminded herself that she was safe, that her companion in New
York had repudiated, denounced her pursuer; and, as a proof to her own
sense of her security, as well as a touching mark to Verena that now,
after what had passed, she had no fear, she felt that a certain light
mockery would be effective.
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