'Poor old Darcy!' exclaimed Camilla when they were alone. 'Does he know?'
'Know what? That we are married? No. I wrote to him nearly six months ago to tell him that you were safe and all that, and he acknowledged the letter on a postcard. Afterwards I sent him that trifle of money that you owed him, and he sent a stamped receipt.'
'He always hides his feelings,' said Camilla. 'This will be a blow for him!'
'How?'
'Didn't he tell you he was most violently in love with me in Paris?'
'He did not,' said Hugo. 'Did he tell you?'
'No, of course not. He was far too chivalrous for that. It would have seemed like taking advantage of my situation to force me into a marriage.'
'How do you know he was violently in love with you, bright star?' Hugo demanded in that amiably malicious tone which he could never withstand the temptation to employ.
'My precious boy,' replied Camilla, 'how does a woman know these things?'
And she came over and kissed Hugo.