“Suppose he did leave you.”
“That’s not your business, Mr. Kilner. If he did, I’d know you’d been making him upset with your talk.”
“It isn’t all talk.”
“What is it, then?”
“Something just as deep as what you call love; probably deeper.”
They had walked down the street leading to the mews, and now came to the corner. Ann stopped and stood hesitating. Her hand went up, and she pulled at her lower lip and shifted her feet uneasily.
“I known girls be left,” she muttered, “girls like me. They pulled through somehow. But I don’t think they was fond of the men like I am of him. And you say he’s fond of me. I know there isn’t anybody else.”
“Is that all you care about?”
“He’s never looked at anybody else. I’d feel better if he did. What call has he to go and make trouble if there isn’t anybody else? Lots of girls would have chucked work when they’d found a man like that to live on. They get sick of being on their own. I’ve been on my own since I was sixteen, and I couldn’t give it up for anybody.”
“And yet you expect him to give it up?”