Somehow, Magda had not expected this; and she flushed up.
"The matter! Oh, why—nothing! Of course not! What do you mean? Why should anything be the matter?"
"You have not been quite the same lately. And I never like to let misunderstandings run on. There is some misunderstanding—isn't there?"
"No! Nothing of the sort!" Magda spoke vehemently. "I don't know what you mean."
Then she felt that this was not true.
"Don't you, really?"
"No, of course, I—What do you mean?"
"I have noticed a difference, and I want to know the reason. We are old friends now—and it seems such a pity to let anything come between us, when perhaps one word of explanation—"
Magda broke in. "But there's nothing to explain. There isn't, really. I—it's only—I've been—busy!"
"Busy about what?"