She had paused three steps from the foot of the stairs, her right hand on the banisters.
His wife!...
He slid his hand up the rail and rested it on hers. "Good lord, no. Not the office. No, I suddenly thought we'd have a holiday. You and I."
He half hoped she would respond to the touch of his hand by turning the palm of her own to it. But he thought, "Why should she?" and she did not. She said, "But how extraordinary! Whatever for?"
"Well, why not?"
"But what did you say at the office? What reason did you give?"
"Didn't give any. I just said I thought I wouldn't be back."
"But whatever will Mr. Fortune think?"
"Oh, what does it matter what he thinks? He won't think anything about it."
"But he'll think it's funny."