Toby's eyes flashed sudden accusation. "You did!"
"I!" Jake looked momentarily disconcerted. "Well, I had some excuse. What do you know about it anyway?"
"I know what Bunny told me. Maud didn't love you when she married you. It didn't come on till afterwards. She loved Lord Saltash, and he loved her." Toby spoke with a certain hardness, as if challenging contradiction. "She'd have married him—but for you."
Jake met the challenge squarely. "Quite possibly she would. Think she'd have been any happier?"
Toby shook her head. "No. I think you were always meant to be her man. But it—it was rather hard on him." Her voice trembled a little. "Bunny says that was why he never married."
"He's not the marrying sort," said Jake. "I don't mind your marrying
Bunny, but nothing on this earth would persuade me to let you marry him."
An odd little smile twitched the corners of Toby's mouth. "No? Well, I shouldn't consult you about that," she said. "Sure you don't mind my marrying Bunny?"
Jake looked at her. "Not if you're sure you want to," he said.
Her eyes grew bright and baffling. She drew away from him, but in a moment with a boyish gesture, she held out her hand to him. "Thank you, Jake. You're a brick. Whatever I do, I'll do it—straight, and you'll stand by?"
"Sure!" said Jake, and gave her a close grip.