“I can’t deny it?”
“Yet read a woman’s nature no better! Anne will not send him off.”
“Accept him, then.”
“Nor accept him.”
“Paddles!”
“If you had studied the genus as you should for your profession, Mr Wareham, you would not find the riddle hard to solve. Anne likes Mr Forbes enough to like to have him about her, but she would not marry him, because she could not endure fetters. Now she salves her conscience by thinking that she has done her best to give him time to recover; you and fate have baffled her, and she—will enjoy herself.”
He forced himself to say quietly—
“You describe a—”
“Flirt. Anne would not deny it if you charged her.”
Her words in the boat were recalled by a reluctant memory; with them came the charm of her voice, her smile, more powerful than words. He started up, and stood leaning against the railing of the balcony.