"Ah—!"
"But he won't. He treats her as though she were a flower, caresses her with his eyes, touches her petals timidly—"
"Bah! I could crush her—"
She smiled indulgently.
"She is a strange creature. Love is an enigma to her. That's why she follows this mad whim for Jerry—she doesn't mistake it for love, she knows too much—but it's a fair imitation."
"It is morbid, unhealthy."
"Perhaps, but like other diseases, will pass."
"Leaving Jerry sick?"
"He will recover."
A calm fell upon me. Was she right after all? What reason had I to lose faith in Jerry when this woman, almost a stranger to me, believed in him? I turned and laid my hands quietly over hers.