Joan sat quite still. After what seemed a long silence she looked up at him.
Wilmington was watching her face. He saw she understood his drift.
“You could cut her out like that,” said Wilmington, with a gesture that gained an accidental emphasis by knocking his glass off the table and smashing it.
The broken glass supplied an incident, a distraction, with the waiters, to relieve the tension of the situation.
“That’s all I had to say,” said Wilmington when that was all settled. “There’s no earthly reason why two of us should be unhappy.”
“Billy,” she said, after a long pause, “if I could only love you——”
The face of gratitude that looked at him faded to a mask.
“You’re thinking of Peter already,” said Wilmington, watching her face.
It was true. She started, detected.
He speculated cheerlessly.