‘And then——’ suggested Hypatia after a silence.
‘Well, as soon as I was certain,’ said Sheila simply, ‘I had to tell him, of course.’
‘That it was hopeless?’
Sheila nodded.
‘We lived in different worlds.... And of course he didn’t understand.’
‘No,’ said Hypatia. ‘He wouldn’t. That was the whole tragedy, wasn’t it?’
‘He thought—’ Sheila began, with a little bitter laugh ... then stopped, and looked at Hypatia with pain in her eyes. ‘He thought I had stopped caring, Hypatia!’
She rose to her feet.
‘It must be getting on for teatime,’ she said. ‘Shall we go?’