He had given the exact answer she had divined.
“Do you think I mind that?”
A flicker passed over his face. He got up and said quietly:
“I am glad that you do not.”
“Why glad?”
She, too, had risen. Though he was little taller than herself, she was conscious suddenly of how thick and steely he was beneath his dapper garments, and of a kind of snaky will-power in his face. Her heart beat faster.
He came toward her and said:
“I am glad you understand that it is over with Gustav—finished—” He stopped dead, seeing at once that he had gone wrong, and not knowing quite where. Gyp had simply smiled. A flush coloured his cheeks, and he said:
“He is a volcano soon extinguished. You see, I know him. Better you should know him, too. Why do you smile?”
“Why is it better I should know?”