“Perhaps,” Mason said, “that’s why he’s acting so carefree now. I’ve been wondering how he was going to manage it when the passengers went through customs and quarantine tomorrow. He’s almost certain to meet her face to face.”
“I think he’s figured that all out. After all, all he needed to do was to go to her, make some explanation and ask her to keep quiet.”
“The only trouble with that,” Mason pointed out, “is that she might indulge in gossip with some shipboard acquaintance and let the cat out of the bag. If Celinda Dail had any idea Evelyn Whiting knew anything about Belle’s father, she’d certainly move heaven and earth to find out what it was.”
Della Street said, “Belle, poor kid, realizes she could never get into Roy’s life.”
“Don’t you think he’ll try to keep in touch with her just the same?” Mason asked.
“He won’t have the chance, Chief. She’s going to tell him she’ll meet him at the Santa Anita Race Track next Tuesday. She told him her folks have a box there. She’ll never see him after she gets off the boat.”
Mason said, “If she’s in love with him I don’t see...”
“I understand exactly how she feels,” Della Street interrupted. “Taking things in her stride, mingling with him on terms of equality, she’s been able to interest him. But the minute he realizes she’s not in his set, the minute his friends start patronizing her, he’ll begin to lose interest in her. She and the Dail girl have been running neck and neck. Give Celinda Dail the handicap of being able to patronize Belle, and Belle will be entirely out of the running.”
“I’m not so certain,” Mason said.
“Well, I am,” Della Street told him. “That Dail girl is clever. She won’t rub it in. Instead, she’ll try and drag Belle out to all sorts of affairs where Belle will be among strangers but everyone else will know each other with that intimacy which comes of years of rubbing elbows and taking each other for granted. Belle will be completely out of place.”