"I'm sure you need have no other trouble, dear," said Mrs. Belfield, with an affectionate glance at Vivien.
"He'll have much more trouble with me, won't he?" Vivien laughed.
Andy stole a look at Isobel. He was filled with admiration; a smile of just the right degree of sympathy ornamented her lips. A profane idea that she must be in the habit of being kissed crossed his mind. It was difficult to see how she could be, though—at Nutley. Kissing takes two. He did not suspect Wellgood, and he was innocent himself.
Another eye was watching—shrewder and more experienced than Andy's—watching Harry, watching Isobel, watching while Andy stole his glance at Isobel. It was easy to keep bluff Wellgood in the dark; his own self-confidence hoodwinked him. Belfield was harder to blind; for those who had anything to conceal, it was lucky that he did not live at Nutley.
"Well, waiting for a wedding's tiresome work for all concerned, isn't it?" he said to Isobel, who sat next him.
"Yes, even waiting for other people's. It's such a provisional sort of time, Mr. Belfield."
"You've forsworn one set of pleasures, and haven't got the other yet. You've ceased to be a rover, and you haven't got a home."
"You don't seem to consider being engaged a very joyful period?" she smiled.
"On the whole, I don't, Miss Vintry, though Vivien there looks pretty happy. But it's telling on Harry, I'm sure."
She looked across at Harry. "Yes, I think it is a little," came apparently as the result of a scrutiny suggested by Belfield's words. "I hadn't noticed it, but I'm afraid you're right."