'Are you sure he meant ... you?'
'He mentioned my name; there could be no doubt about it.'
Brenda rose suddenly from her seat and crossed the room towards the window. There she stood with her back towards him, a graceful, dark silhouette against the dying light, looking into the street.
He moved slightly, but did not attempt to follow her.
'It is rather strange,' she said at length, 'that the first name she mentioned on landing at Plymouth should be yours.'
A look of blank surprise flashed across his face, and then he reflected gravely for some moments.
'I am sorry to hear it,' he said slowly, 'because it would seem that my name has been bandied between them, and if that is the case my hands are tied. I cannot help Alice as I should have liked to do.'
'I told Alice some time ago that it would be much better for us to manage this ... this miserable affair without your help.'
'You are equal to it,' he said deliberately.
She laughed with a faint gleam of her habitual brightness.