She found some pleasure, too, in
feeling that she was taking away a lover from Ethel Mott, for whom she
had a dislike which in another woman would have been petty but which in
Mrs. Staggchase was merely intellectual, since she was not a woman
without understanding that one of her sex must feel the loss of even an
admirer for whom she has no love. She did not share Rangely's mistake
of supposing that Ethel would marry him, yet it was distinctly her
intention that Miss Mott should not have the satisfaction of
undeceiving him, but that Fred should carry through life the regretful
and tantalizing conviction that he had thrown away this chance. It
required only a little cleverness in bringing together the young man
and Miss Merrivale, with a little skill in dropping now and then a word
assuming his devotion to her guest, and Mrs. Staggchase's plan was
evidently in a fair way of accomplishment.
On the morning of the day of her luncheon, for instance, she had
managed that Rangely should take Frances to some of the studios. The
girl had little acquaintance with artistic life, but it attracted her
by that romantic flavor which it is so apt to have for the uninitiated.
"I should think," she observed, as they walked along in the bright
sunny morning, "that you would want to go to the studios all the time,
if you know so many artists.
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