Stella hesitated.
"I have known him such a short time," she said, almost apologetically.
"I thought so," he said. "He is not a friend of yours—you don't like him?"
"But"—said Stella.
"I know it," he said, "as well as if you had told me; and I am glad of it."
There was a tone of suppressed excitement in his voice—a restless, uneasy look in his eyes, which astonished Stella.
"Why?" she said.
"Because," he answered, "I do not like him. I"—and a shiver ran through him—"I hate him."
Stella stared.
"You hate him!" she exclaimed. "You have only seen him for a few minutes! Ought you to say that?"