"Well, I suppose of course Rachel didn't reciprocate and so you didn't notice."
Eva deliberated; she began to suspect that Pamela was watching her. "No, Rachel didn't reciprocate," she risked at last; "that's certain, isn't it?"
"Yes, if we take it for granted that we always marry the people we care for."
Eva blushed,—a blush that spread painfully from brow to chin and throat,—her eyelids quivered and drooped from Pamela's gaze, she clasped her hands tightly under the table.
"Don't you think Rachel's too superbly honest to do anything else?" she asked.
"I think Rachel's perfectly lovely and the dearest girl in the world, but she looks—oh, Eva, can't you see how wretched she looks?"
"No, I haven't seen it, and she can't be; I won't let her be!" Eva's face quivered.
"There, now I've made you unhappy!" lamented Pamela, sincerely distressed and contrite. "I shouldn't have said it, but Rachel does look so pale, so worn, and you know I do love her."
"You can't love her as I do; she's the dearest thing in the world! She isn't unhappy: I won't believe it; and this is all nonsense about Charter. You dreamed it, Pamela!"
"Oh, I only said that he was in love with her!"