She hesitated, looking at him, the bright color in her cheeks.
"What silenced and incensed me was that you divined it. I would have liked to have played a part with you vis-à-vis----"
"You're playing it now," observed Silvette. "Jim doesn't know what you are now; even I have doubts."
"Well, you've succeeded. You're perfectly right, Silvette; I don't know anything about her now. Are there any more roles you can assume, Japonette?"
"Many, monsieur. One of them _is_ Japonette, if I choose."
"Play it," he said, "if you ever want to tie me to your Obi."
"You behave," observed Silvette tranquilly, "like two rather ordinary young persons flirting."
"We are," nodded Diana, "but it won't last, Silvie. It's only my kimono and his thirty-odd years and the unconventionality that attracts him." She strolled about airily waving her fan. "Not that I mind being picked up----"
"Di! You'll give him a perfectly horrid impression of yourself!"
"Why, he knows I didn't mind it. It's past helping now."
"_How_ can a man 'pick up,' as you so disgustingly put it, his own cousin?"
"That _was_ a triumph, wasn't it, Jim?" she asked innocently. "It remained for an Edgerton to accomplish the weird and impossible; but an Edgerton can do anything in New York--n'est ce pas? Bien, sure! Sure, Mike!"
"Dearest, I _feel_ slangy; and cousin James is so thoroughly a man of the world that he doesn't care. He wouldn't care what I did. I could perform a pas seul or a flip-flap or a cart wheel, and _he_ wouldn't care. It's done in the best circles here, isn't it, cousin?"
"Frequently," he said gravely, "varied occasionally by voloplaning down the banisters."
"There are no banisters here. Perhaps there are at the Rivetts'. Do you think it would entertain his guests? You know we are employed for that purpose."
"You and I ought to practice some acrobatic turns," he suggested. "Do you think you could learn to throw a double somersault standing on my shoulders?"
"Di! what on earth are you talking about!" said Silvette, turning from the piano to encounter their unrestrained laughter.
"Oh, dear," said Diana, "I didn't know I could ever be silly again. I thought that losing all our money a year ago had frightened it out of me; but it's there, cousin Jim--the same frivolity which _you_ instantly discovered in me, and which the Rivetts will probably and properly quench.... Silvie, this studio floor is delightfully waxed.... Cousin, do you dance?"