"No. You can say you want to get back to me. Desmond will understand."
"He's rather a fine fellow, isn't he?"
"One of the best I know. The last man who ought to be hampered by a woman."
"I might take that as a dismissal! How about yourself!"
"Ah, that's quite another matter." And he laid a hand upon the soft abundance of her hair. "Mine is only a two years' contract. And, in any case, I would never allow myself to be handicapped by a woman—not even by you. But I don't feel so certain about Desmond."
"Poor little Evelyn! Do you mean, ... is there any question of her really hampering him, ... seriously?"
Meredith hesitated. A half-smile hovered in his tired eyes.
"As I'm strongly against the whole affair, and have hardly forgiven him yet for marrying at all, it is fairer for me to say nothing about her one way or the other. You must judge for yourself."
[1] Government servant.