She saw that he would not endure pressure on this point, and refrained from pursuing it; but his reception of her request was a disappointment to her. Somehow she had come to expect greater things from Noel.
The rest of the evening slipped away magically. She danced a great many dances without any sense of fatigue; but when it was all over at last a great weariness descended upon her. She drove back with Max, so utterly spent that she could hardly speak.
Yet, as they entered Nick's bungalow, she roused herself and turned to him with her own quick smile. "It's been the happiest evening of my life," she said.
"Really!" said Max.
She slipped the cloak from her shoulders and went close to him. The love in her eyes gave them a glory that was surely not of earth. She took him by the shoulders, those clear, shining eyes raised to his.
"I'm afraid you've had a dull time," she said. "I hope you haven't hated it."
"Not at all," said Max.
Yet a hint of cynicism still lingered about him as he said it. He stood passive within her hold.
She pressed a little nearer to him. "Max, you didn't mind my giving all those dances to Noel? You—understood?"
He began to smile. "My dear girl, yes!"