Loring stared at her blankly. Then he flushed.
"Are you insinuating that she doesn't care for me?" he demanded.
Belinda eyed him again in that sly, incredulous way. Then she said:
"And do you mean to tell me that you haven't noticed a thing of what's going on between her and the dago?"
"What the devil are you after?" he cried angrily. "I'll thank you not to hint things about Sophy. She's as high above you as the stars—that's what!"
"Oh—a kite's high above me, too," said Belinda airily. "What I'm 'hinting' as you call it is only what any one with eyes in his head couldn't help seeing."
"Come ... speak out!" said Loring roughly.
Belinda gave a sharp sigh, as of disgusted patience.
"Why any baby can see that she and Amaldi are in love with each other," she flung at him. "Now why do you gape at me like that? I dare say it began years ago—in Italy, where she saw so much of him...."
Loring could not articulate.