"So, my dear, you can go as soon as you like and fix upon a house," he said.
Bella yawned and stretched her arms above her head.
"Oh, you will know much better than I what is required," she replied.
"Have you, then, no interest in our new home?" he asked, more hurt than he could well have expressed.
"Do you ever show the slightest interest in what concerns me?" she retorted.
He winced. "This is a mutual interest, surely, since we must occupy it together."
"Must?" she echoed dreamily.
"What do you mean?" he asked sharply.
"Nothing, except that 'must' is the word I have banished from my vocabulary," and she smiled at him—actually smiled, though she must have known she was stabbing him to the very heart.
He said no more; and indeed, words seemed to be useless.