"Why do you think he"s gone away?" he rather irritatingly persisted.
"I haven"t the slightest idea."
"Do you know, Edith, it has sometimes occurred to me that if--that, well--well, you know what I mean--if things had turned out differently, and you had done as I asked you--"
"Well?"
"Why, I have a sort of idea," he looked away, "that Aylmer might--well, might have proposed to you!"
"Oh! _What_ an extraordinary idea!"
"But he never did show any sign whatever, I suppose of--well, of--being more interested in you than he ought to have been?"
"Good heavens, no!"
"Oh, of course, I know that--you"re not his style. You liked him very much, didn"t you, Edith?..."
"I like him very much now."
"However, I doubt if you ever quite appreciated him. He"s so full of ability; such an intellectual chap! Aylmer is more a man"s man. _I_ miss him, of course. He was a very great friend of mine. And he didn"t ever at all, in the least--seem to--"
"Seem to what?"
"It would have been a very unfair advantage to take of my absence if he had," continued Bruce.
"Oh!"
"But he was incapable of it, of course."
"Of course."
"He _never_ showed any special interest, then, beyond--"
"Never."
"I was right, I suppose, as usual. You never appreciated him; he was not the sort of man a woman _would_ appreciate ... But he"s a great loss to me, Edith. I need a man who can understand--Intellectual sympathy--"
"Mr Vincy!" announced the servant.
Vincy had not lost his extraordinary gift for turning up at the right moment. He was more welcome than ever now.