He treated her with
particularly marked courtesy, and he admired her voice, for Lady Conroy
had good-naturedly insisted on her singing to him. He had even offered,
when he had more time, to give her a few lessons. Lady Conroy told her a
hundred interesting stories about him and Dulcie found a tinge of
romance about him that helped to give piquancy to her present life.
* * * * *
Dulcie was very much afraid of Lord Conroy, though he didn't appear to
notice her. In his own way he was as absent-minded as his wife, to whom
he was devoted, but whose existence was entirely independent of his.
Lord Conroy had his own library, his own secretary, his own suite of
rooms, his own motor, he didn't even tell his wife when he intended to
dine out, and if he occasionally spoke to her of the strained political
situation which now absorbed him, it certainly wasn't when Dulcie was
there. With his grey beard and dark, eyebrows, and absent, distinguished
manner, he was exactly what Dulcie would have dreamed of as an ideal
Cabinet Minister. He evidently regarded his wife, despite her
thirty-eight years and plumpness, almost as a child, giving her complete
freedom to pursue her own devices, admiring her appearance, and smiling
at her lively and inconsequent conversation; he didn't seem to take her
seriously.
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