Excerpt: "Gage Flandon put his wife's fur cloak around her and stood back, watching her as she took a final glance into the long mirror in the hall. "I'm quite excited," she said. "Margaret always excites me and I do want you to meet her. She really must come to stay with us, Gage." "If you like. I'm not so keen." "Afraid of strong-minded women?" "It's not their strong minds I'm afraid of, Helen." "Their alluring personalities?" She slipped an arm into his and led him to the door. "Not even that. Their horrible consciousness—self-consciousness. Their nervousness. Their aggressiveness. Most of all, I hate the idea of their effect on you." "You sound as if whole cohorts of strong-minded rapacious women were storming the city instead of one old college friend of mine come to bolster up the fortunes of your own political party.""
