�Had happened?� He gazed at her slowly. �Between you and me?� he said with a rush of light.
The words were so much cruder than any that had ever passed between them that the color rose to her face; but she held his startled gaze.
�You know girls are not quite as unsophisticated as they used to be. Are you surprised that such an idea should occur to her?�
His own color answered hers: it was the only reply that came to him.
Mrs. Vervain went on, smoothly: �I supposed it might have struck you that there were times when we presented that appearance.�
He made an impatient gesture. �A man�s past is his own!�
�Perhaps—it certainly never belongs to the woman who has shared it. But one learns such truths only by experience; and Miss Gaynor is naturally inexperienced.�
�Of course—but—supposing her act a natural one—� he floundered lamentably among his innuendoes—�I still don�t see—how there was anything—�
�Anything to take hold of? There wasn�t—�
�Well, then—?� escaped him, in crude satisfaction; but as she did not complete the sentence he went on with a faltering laugh: �She can hardly object to the existence of a mere friendship between us!�