I am the mainspring of its endeavour."
"And yet when I met you it was on the links above La Turbie."
The count laughed, showing his glittering teeth as any carnivorous
animal might have done.
"Ah, I remember. You met me when I was playing golf with a very saintly
lady. Latterly, I hear, she has ceased to go to church and taken to
bobbed hair. Women are strange creatures, Mr. Cleaver, but difficult,
very difficult sometimes. I have had many disappointments with women."
"You find men easier?"
"Indeed, there are few men who are not willing to go to the devil if
the consideration be large enough. A woman, on the other hand, is too
often the victim of her emotions. She will suffer eternal torment for
the man she loves, and she will cheat for him. But for the rest of
us--nothing, positively nothing at all; she is neither honest nor
dishonest, she merely passes us by."
"Ah," exclaimed Ambrose, a little wearily, "I wish I could think that
about my _fiancee_. She's just been up--that's why you find me upset. I
bought her opals, and, of course, she wants diamonds.
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