“Still evasion. Out with it. Let’s clear the air.”
The girl drummed on the arm of her chair, first with one hand, then with the other. At last she looked the questioner fairly in the face.
“Frankly, Steve, they do; and they have for a year. But I don’t mind. I didn’t intend to say anything to you about it.”
The look of the boy vanished from the other’s eyes.
“I—see,” he commented slowly. 42
“People are horrid that way, even people otherwise nice,” amplified the girl. “As soon as any one they know has an—affair it immediately becomes public property. It’s almost as bad as a murder case. The whole thing is tried and settled out of court.”
The figure of the man settled down in his chair to the small of his back. His fingers locked over one knee.
“I suppose it was something of that kind Darley had in mind,” he said.
“Darley Roberts? When?”
“We were talking about—similar cases a few days ago.”