“My God!” he said, and kissed her bravely.
“Of course,” she whispered. “Of course....”
“No, not like that,” she whispered. “Not as though I were your sister. I beg you to observe that I am not your sister. Yes, properly, dear. Oh, I do like you frightfully, Hugo....”
Then quite a lot of things happened at the same time; and then he cried:
“But why didn’t you tell me before?”
“Because I didn’t realise, my darling. I didn’t know I loved you—and how can a girl know a thing like that? Oh, Hugo, you are so sweet! What fun to have you for keeps! And it will be nice to chew bits of you now and then—oh, what fun we’ll have! Dear Hugo....”
“And you said, Shirley, that you would never, never marry me!”
“I didn’t know myself, dear—nor you! Until, after the fifth time, when you went away saying that you would never come back. And then I was very sorry, Hugo.”
“Oh, by the way,” he said, “here’s a note from George—about taking you to Loyalties to-night.”
She read the note.