"He did not like you noticing Mr. Gore was away—"
"Of course I noticed it—surely, he could not be jealous of that!"
"I should not think he could be jealous," Mariquita agreed, too readily to please Sarella. "But I did not think of it. I am sure he does not dislike you. You cannot think he does."
Sarella was far from thinking it. But she had wanted Mariquita to say more, and was only partly satisfied.
"He would not like me to go away?" she suggested.
"Oh, no. The contrary."
"Not even if it were advantageous to me?"
"How advantageous?"
"If I were to be going to a home of my own? Going, for instance, to be married?"
"That would surprise him...."