Richard Kuppelton looked at Ruth with disapproval. She was an aggressive woman and he was tired of aggressive women. His mother was that way. Caroline was more what he wanted. She had spirit but was not aggressive. There was a difference between spirit and aggressiveness. He could not quite define it but still there was a difference. Caroline could act irritated with him and he would not mind. And she always smiled, even when she was angry; he could not feel that a woman who always smiled was aggressive. She had a mind of her own but then he could handle that. Eating veal, Richard Kuppelton felt he could handle anything.
Robert Holton finished eating. He sat back in his chair and yawned.
“Bored?” asked Caroline.
He shook his head. “No, not very. Just sleepy.”
“Well, I like that!” exclaimed Ruth. “You’d think we weren’t good enough for him.” She said this in a way to let him know she was being humorous.
Kuppelton decided, however, to develop what she’d said. “Sure, he’s a good friend of Mr Heywood.”
Ruth was impressed. “I certainly wish I had your contacts then. I sure wouldn’t be working in this lousy job.”
Robert Holton wanted to know what was wrong with her job.
“Oh, you know how it is. Doing the same thing day after day. It makes me sick. I’d like to do something exciting.”
“Like what?” asked Richard Kuppelton. These were his secret wishes, too, but he would never have put them into words. He was delighted to hear someone else say them.