I didn't get the scene after cricket match when Alec looks at Maurice and shares a laugh with his friend. Is he making fun of Maurice (as felt by Maurice) or is it something else?
Maybe somebody who has read the book can shed light on it.
So much to see, so little time!
I'm not sure if you're supposed to know what Alec's saying - perhaps it's meant to be open to interpretation. It makes Maurice panic and feel insecure, which is what I've always thought was the main intention.
I didn't phrase that very well, but hopefully you know what I mean. I don't think it particularly matters one way or another what Alec says to his friend, as it's Maurice's reaction that really counts.
I was always confused about that sequence, but I've finally decided that Alec and his friend are sharing a private joke that has nothing to do with Maurice. However, Maurice completely misunderstands, and bolts. What might have made it work a little better would have been if they showed Alec's look of dismay when he sees Maurice leaving. If anything, the working classes were even less accepting of homosexuality than were the upper classes. Alec would have been very careful about telling people what he had been up to.
shareAh, but that would have tipped us off that Alec was the real deal instead of keeping us in the "OMG, did I just ruin my entire life?" mindset of Maurice. :)
For my money, all three explanations are right. The unheard comment/laugh/glance *have* to remain ambiguous, for both dramatic and realist (1913-verse/class paranoia/etc) reasons. In particular, if we knew what Alec was saying, the subsequent blackmail plot would lose its charge (and its own ambiguity).
Perhaps less realistically, I've always liked to imagine that Alec is making a positive/admiring comment about Maurice to the other boy along the lines of 'Mr Hall is hot'. ;)
Here's another explanation, from a (22,000-word, multi-part!) Russian Maurice fanfic I found recently (run through an auto-translator: no, I don't speak/read Russian):
'"Mr Durham is just an awkward penguin," Alec whispered in the ear of his neighbour. Both laughed merrily ... Alec turned to look again at Mr Hall, and was dumbfounded. Maurice's face resembled a mask, his ears were burning, and his fingers almost crumbled the leg-guard he had just taken off. Without looking at anyone, Maurice Hall stood up and walked quickly toward the house. Alec's heart sank. He did not understand." ('Alec', Part 6, by torchinca, at www.diary.ru/~Maurice1987/?tag=3497010&from=40)
NB: www.diary.ru/~Maurice1987 is a Russian-language Maurice fansite. To access the site it's necessary to sign up to www.diary.ru - in Russian - and confirm that you're over 18. (I succeeded with the help of Google Translate!) One of the (many) other Russian fics there imagines that Alec has a sexual history with the boy he hangs out with. Don't say you weren't warned!