Chapter 16

Mrs. Montgomery was nodding in her chair. Every now and then she waked, and took a momentary part in the conversation. There were traces of an old coquetry, an old charm in her efforts. She addressed most of her remarks to Anthony. In the days long gone by, she had been the toast of the officers in the Yard. She remembered a dinner-party in this same house, given by Virginia’s great-grandmother. “I was a girl then,” she said, with the sparkle of youth sweeping back upon her, “and I flirted with your grandfather. An…