"This is not what it seems," he said in a low voice.
"Perfection at last," Vivette contemptuously suggested.
"I have known her for years," he pleaded, glancing towards Miranda.
"Really I can't listen. Let us at least bury our own affair."
"I am speaking the literal truth."
Vivette was surprised at his vehemence.
"I am not good at riddles," she said, looking at him closely.
"You don't know what has happened."
"I know," Vivette retorted in a voice that cut him, "that you have had the discourtesy to be smitten with a strange woman within a week of making love to me."
"She is the first woman I ever knew."