“I say, I didn’t mean to give myself away like that! Tea always makes me gossip like an old woman.”
“Old women aren’t always gossips,” Fanny corrected him, calmly looking at his full cup; “and, moreover, you’ve only just tasted your tea.”
“Then it’s your fault! You made me blurt out the truth. I felt your sympathy. Do you know, it’s a beautiful thing, the way you can sympathize? It’s a gift. You’ve made me feel that I have a real friend.”
Fanny lifted her cup firmly and drank a little tea before she managed to answer.
“That’s really a tremendous compliment,” she said, smiling at him. “I’m very proud of it!”
“Well, since I’ve let the cat out of the bag, I might as well tell you the whole truth, hadn’t I?” he exclaimed with that open and engaging manner that had so often won his way. “I’ve been in love with her ever since I was a little shaver. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t in love with her.”
“And you stood aside because you were loyal to Overton?” she ventured.
He paled as suddenly as he had reddened.
“Yes, I knew he loved her. I owed him a great deal, you know. I let him have his chance first.”
She lifted her eyes bravely to his.