And then she repeated, word for word, the conversation she had had with Ralph Gowan.
Having listened to the end, Aimée shook her head.
“I like Mr. Gowan well enough,” she said, “but he has been the cause of a great deal of trouble among us, without meaning to be, and I am afraid it is not at an end yet.”
They were both silent for a few moments after this, and then Dolly, looking up, spoke with a touch of reluctance.
“I dare say you can answer me a question I should like to ask you?” she said.
“If it is about Mollie, I think I can,” Aimée returned.
“You have been with her so long,” Dolly went on, two tiny lines showing themselves upon her forehead this time, “and you are so quick at seeing things, that you must know what there is to know. And yet it hardly seems fair to ask. Ralph Gowan goes to Bloomsbury Place often, does he not?”
“He goes very often, and he seems to care more for Mollie than for any of the rest of us.”
“Aimée,” Dolly said next, “does—this is my question—does Mollie care for him?”
“Yes, she does,” answered Aimée. “She cares for him so much that she is making herself miserable about him.”