Fred was silent.
"Are they as beautiful as all that, Fred?"
"You don't understand, Margaret."
"I understand only too well. I just want to know—were they taken before we were married or after?"
"Before, of course. I haven't gone out with another girl since our wedding."
"Thank you, dear." Her own new voice had venom in it, and she caught herself. I mustn't talk like that, she thought. I know Fred, I know his weakness. I knew them before I married him. I have to accept them and help him, not rant at him for them.
He said, "They were just girls I knew casually. Good-looking, but nothing much otherwise. Not in a class with you."
"Don't apologize." This time her voice was calm, even amused. "You couldn't help attracting them. Why didn't you tell me that you kept their pictures?"
"I thought you'd be jealous."
"Perhaps I would have been, but I'd have got over it. Anyway, Fred, is there any one of them you liked particularly?"