Then, suddenly, he looked up.
"We are engaged to be married," he observed pointedly.
Steinmetz took his pipe from his lips slowly and imperturbably.

He was a man to whom it was no satisfaction to impart news.

He either knew it before or did not take much interest in the matter.
"That makes it worse," he said.

"A woman only conceals what is bad about her husband.

If she knows anything that is likely to make other women think that their husbands are inferior, she will tell it." Paul laughed.
"But this is not good," he argued.