"Oh, Stanzides!" exclaimed Anna. "Now I am really sorry that I wasn't there too."
"It seems to me," said George, "that that is a true word spoken in jest."
"Quite so," replied Anna. "I think Demeter is really desperately handsome."
George was silent for a few seconds and suddenly asked, with more emotion than he usually manifested: "Is it he then...?"
"What 'he' do you mean?"
"The one you ... loved more than me."
She smiled, nestled closer up to him and answered simply, though a little ironically: "Am I really supposed to have been fonder of any one else than of you?"
"You confessed it to me yourself," replied George.
"But I also confess to you that I should love you in time more than I have loved or ever could love any one else."
"Are you quite sure about that, Anna?"