Emmy’s face changed. Her whole manner changed. She was outraged.
“Jenny! Is he that sort! Oh, I warned you.... There’s never any good in it. He’ll do you no good.”
“He’s a captain of a little yacht. He’s not what you think,” Jenny protested, very pale, her heart sinking under such a rebuke, under such knowledge as she alone possessed.
“Still, to go to him!” Emmy was returned to that aspect of the affair. “And leave Pa!”
“I know. I know,” Jenny cried. She was no longer protective. She was herself in need of comfort. “But I had to go. You’d have gone yourself!” She met Emmy’s gaze steadily, but without defiance.
“No I shouldn’t!” It was Emmy who became defiant. Emmy’s jealousy was again awake. “However much I wanted to go. I should have stayed.”
“And lost him!” Jenny cried.
“Are you sure of him now?” asked Emmy swiftly. “If he’s gone again.”
With her cheeks crimson, Jenny turned upon her sister.
“Yes, I’m sure of him. And I love him. I love him as much as you love Alf.” She had the impulse, almost irresistible, to add “More!” but she restrained her tongue just in time. That was a possibility Emmy could never admit. It was only that they were different.