“No, my dear old man, of course you didn’t, because you never do. But it’s perfectly plain that it’s a case between them. I’ve thought so for a long time.”
“He may be in love with her, but I’m sure she isn’t in love with him.”
“Well, she seemed to me the more obviously in love of the two. She had all the happy, confident manner of a woman in love.”
“She couldn’t be in love with him—he’s a mere boy.”
“Very attractive to women, especially to one past her early youth. Stella must be getting on for thirty now, and I expect she doesn’t want to be stranded.”
For some reason Peter could not bear to hear her talked of in this way.
“I know she’s not in love with him,” he said doggedly.
“How can you know?”
“By the way she looks and behaves and all that—I know how Stella looks when she’s in love.”
“Of course you do. But since she couldn’t get you perhaps she’d like to have Gervase.”