“It could be done,” I said, knocking the billiard balls around.
He moved closer. “There’s someone else on whom you’ve made a favourable impression, Lam.”
“Indeed?”
“Yes. Mrs. Ashbury.”
I said, “She told me she’d like to take off a little weight after her blood pressure got back to normal.”
He lowered his voice. “Did it ever strike you there’s something a little strange about the way her blood pressure started to mount and she started to put on weight immediately after she married Ashbury?”
I said, “Lots of women keep on a diet while they’re husband-hunting, and then as soon as they marry, settle back—”
His face grew purple. “That’s not what I meant at all,” he snapped.
I said, “I’m sorry.”
“If you knew Mrs. Ashbury, you’d realise how utterly uncalled for such a statement is, how far it’s removed iron the real facts.”