Lily hesitated.
“Never mind,” Sylvia went on. “I know he does.”
“Oh, my dear,” Lily murmured, biting her lip. “Then other people might notice. Never mind. I ought to finish to-night. The boat sails the day after to-morrow.”
“And what about me?” Sylvia asked.
Lily looked shamefaced for a moment, but the natural optimism of the gambler quickly reasserted itself.
“I thought you wouldn’t like to break your contract.”
“My contract,” Sylvia repeated, bitterly. “What about—— Oh, but how foolish I am. You dear unimaginative creature!”
“I’m not at all unimaginative,” Lily interposed, quickly. “One of the reasons why I want to leave Brazil is because the black people here make me nervous. That’s why I left our flat. I didn’t know what to do. I was so frightened. I think I’m very imaginative. You got ill. What was I to do?”
She asked this like an accusation, and Sylvia knew that it would be impossible to make her see any other point of view.
“Besides, it was your fault I started to gamble. I watched you on the boat.”