Page:Dark Hester.djvu/66

them that she is brave?’ Monica got up restlessly. ‘After all, Norah, nobody knew except you and me and Bowditt.’

‘Hester knew all right,’ said Norah with a short laugh. ‘And she knows that you wanted him to marry Celia and that you are sorry he didn’t.’

‘My dear Norah!’ Monica gazed at her. ‘Do I make it so plain?’ she asked.

‘How can you help making it plain? One only has to see them all together—with you. Hester isn’t our sort, is she?’

Monica walked to a window as she heard this question. ‘She’s my son’s wife. That’s all I have to remember,’ she said, standing there looking out and wondering, if Norah had seen, how much Clive must have seen.

‘Yes, she’s his wife and he’s devoted to her; but the queer thing is that if she’d been a man he wouldn’t have made a friend of her. Celia would have been a friend, always; but not Hester. That’s just the difference, isn’t it? That’s just where this queer falling in love comes in; but I can’t help feeling that it’s happier when a man falls in love with a friend; they do sometimes.’

‘I wonder.’ Monica stood looking out. ‘Perhaps difference and the surprise of difference are needed