He flushed. “I trust you do not mean to imply that——”
“I know what you would say. No, I do not mean anything of the sort. Still, you now have a wife of your own. Is it advisable to have also the wife of a best friend?”
“Really, Yvonne, all this sounds very suspicious and—unpleasant. Mrs Desmond is the soul of——”
“My dear man, why should you defend her? I am not accusing her. I am merely going into the ethics of the situation. If you can forget that Mrs Desmond is the wife of your friend and come to regard her as a servant in your establishment, no one will be more happy than I to have her about the place. She is fine, she is competent, she is a lady. But she is not my equal here. Can't you understand?”
He was thoughtful for a moment.
“I dare say you are right. The conditions are peculiar. I can't go to her and say that she must consider herself as—oh, no, that would be impossible.”
“I should like to have Mrs Desmond as my friend, not as my housekeeper,” said his wife simply.
“By Jove, and that's just what I should like,” he cried.
“There is but one way, you know.”
“She must be one or the other, eh?”