"Oh ... that's absurd...."
"Not a bit absurd. Do you think she's known you all this time without growing fond of you?"
"We've been good friends, of course."
"Friends? ... Some people would smile if you told them that. They'd say, to begin with, that she's compromised herself with you pretty hopelessly by staying here to-night.... Mrs. Taplow as a chaperon wouldn't impress them."
"What! Do you mean to say——"
I said, interrupting him: "Whatever I mean is not the slightest reflection on either you or her. I really needn't say that. We're broad-minded people—we don't bother about silly conventions.... But some people do—you'd be surprised how many—and my point in mentioning the matter is simply this.... Is it likely that June would risk getting herself talked about in connection with a man of whom she wasn't rather fond?"
"I don't think she cares whether people talk about her or not."
"Then depend upon it," I answered, "the crisis has been reached. When a woman doesn't care whether people talk about her or not, there's only one conclusion to be drawn. She's in love."
"Oh, that's nonsense—if you're trying to make out that she's in love with me...."
"Perhaps you can think of somebody else, then?"