"There's no hurry," she said kindly. "Why not wait till Esther comes in?"
Micky shook his head; he said he couldn't spare the time, but in his heart he knew quite well that he intended to wait.
"I suppose she--er--she never talks any more about taking a job now, eh?" he asked after a moment.
"No, I don't think so; that man's word is law to her, you know. I believe if he said 'Come out here and marry me at once,' she'd fly off by the next train. As a matter of fact, I'm expecting something of the sort almost daily."
"I don't think she'll do that," Micky said. He stood back to the fire, with his hands in his pockets, staring up at the ceiling.
"No!" June watched him quizzically. "Do you know, Micky," she said at last, "that I consider you've altered a lot lately?"
He swung round at once, and scrutinised himself in the glass over the mantelshelf.
"For the worse, or the better?" he asked anxiously. "I know I never was exactly an Adonis."
"I don't mean your face, stupid, but yourself. You're quieter, you don't go about so much; in fact"--she challenged him deliberately--"I believe you're in love."
"It's no joking matter--I mean what I say."
"So do I," said Micky. He laughed. He came over to where she was sitting, and stood behind her chair so that she could not see his face. "I've tried to make up my mind to tell you lots of times," he said. "But I thought perhaps you'd have guessed before now...." He stopped and moved away restlessly.
"You needn't be sorry for me; I walked into it with my eyes wide open. I knew she was engaged--I knew it all the time."
"And Esther ... does she know? Have you told her?"
"Yes.... She took it as an insult. Perhaps it was; I don't know. You see, I knew she was engaged to that other fellow."
"An outsider! who isn't worth a thought," June cried indignantly. "Micky, however could she have refused you?"
He laughed. He looked down at her with a comical expression in his eyes.
"She's not the first woman who's done that," he reminded her.
"This," said Micky, "isn't anything either, except on my side. You always told me that some day I shouldn't be able to have what I wanted. You were right."
"I should like to slap her!" said June viciously.
"If you did I should slap you, my dear." He went back to his chair by the fire. "It's only between ourselves, June," he said.