'Oh no; not at all, I fancy,' said Helen.
'I only asked,' said Althea, 'because it seemed the obvious explanation.'
'You mean their way of flirting.'
'Yes. I suppose I'm not used to flirtation, not to such extreme flirtation. I don't like it, do you?'
'I don't know that I do; but Gerald is only a flirt through sympathy and good nature. It's Frances who leads him on; she is a flirt by temperament.'
'I'm glad of that,' said Althea. 'I'm sure he is too nice to be one by temperament.'
'After all, it's a very harmless diversion.'
'Do you think it harmless? It pains me to see a sacred thing being mimicked.'
'I hardly think it's a sacred thing Frances and Gerald are mimicking,' Helen smiled.
'It's love, isn't it?'