“What is this all about?” he asked. “As you must be aware, I wish to reach the house.”
There was a little pause.
Then the girl, without taking her fingers from the corners of her mouth, said in a somewhat constricted voice,
“Look at me! I want you to look at me!”
“I am looking,” the Duke replied grimly, “But it is not a pleasant sight!”
“Good!”
As she spoke, the girl took her fingers from her mouth, her eyes went back into place and she said, looking up at him,
“Did you see how ugly I looked?”
“Of course I saw!” the Duke replied. “And may I say if it is a joke I do not consider it very funny!”
“It was not meant to be funny,” the girl replied. “I wanted you to feel appalled and if possible disgusted that any woman could look so ugly and so revolting!”
“All right, I agree,” the Duk
