"That's all very well. But why don't you read your letter?"
"There's sure to be nothing in it."
"How can you tell till you've opened it?"
"I know. I always feel what's in a letter without opening it. Don't you? I absorb the essence, as it were, through the covers of the envelope, as somebody or other—Macaulay, I think—used to absorb all the important things through the covers of a book. Or wasn't it Macaulay? Anyhow, it doesn't matter. It was some tiresome person whom one oughtn't to talk about on a morning like this."
Harry evidently was not quite at his ease.
"But why not read it?" She spoke playfully.
"How persistent women are, just like children. To tease you I just shan't."
"Oh, Harry!"
"I shan't read it now at all," he went on. "I can answer it without reading it."
"It's only that I should like to know how the Walmers are enjoying themselves on Flying Fish. Lady Walmer was a little afraid they mightn't like it."