What does the emphasis on the word "pretty" and Dexter’s reaction to the news of Judy’s situation tell readers about his attachment to her?

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"Isn't she—a pretty girl, anymore?"
"Oh, she's all right."

"Look here," said Dexter, sitting down suddenly, "I don't understand. You say she was a 'pretty girl,' and now you say she's 'all right.' I don't understand what you mean—Judy Jones wasn't a pretty girl, at all. She was a great beauty. Why, I knew her, I knew her. She was—"

Devlin laughed pleasantly.
"I'm not trying to start a row," he said. "I think Judy's a nice girl, and I like her. I can't understand how a man like Lud Simms could fall madly in love with her, but he did." Then he added: "Most of the women like her."

Dexter looked closely at Devlin, thinking wildly that there must be a reason for this, some insensitivity in the man or some private malice.

"Lots of women fade just like that," Devlin snapped his fingers. "You must have seen it happen. Perhaps I've forgotten how pretty she was at her wedding. I've seen her so much since then, you see. She has nice eyes."

A sort of dullness settled down upon Dexter. For the first time in his life, he felt like getting very drunk.

Dexter's reaction to Devlin's comments about Judy's declining beauty highlights his deep attachment and idealization of her, which is tied to his self-identity and youth.

The emphasis on the word pretty and Dexter's reaction to the changing perception of Judy's beauty reveal his deep attachment to her, painting a picture of an idealized and unchangeable beauty in his mind. When Devlin describes Judy as simply 'all right,' it not only diminishes Judy's beauty in Dexter's eyes but also suggests a loss of the ideal he worshipped. Dexter's desire to get very inebriate reflects his profound disillusionment and the emotional impact the news of Judy's situation has on him, indicating that his attachment to her may be tied to his own self-identity and the dreams of his youth that she embodied.