"Well, what have you had?" Johnnie quizzed him.
"I haven't had anything," said Ingpen, "except drink."
Hilda cried.
"Oh! You poor sufferer! I am ashamed!" And led him familiarly to the table.
IV
Edwin was kept at the front-door some time by Johnnie Orgreave, who resumed as he was departing the subject of the proposed new works, and maintained it at such length that Janet, tired of waiting on the pavement, said that she would walk on. When he returned to the dining-room, Ingpen and Hilda were sitting side by side at the littered table, and the first words that Edwin heard were from Ingpen:
"It cost me a penknife. But it was dirt cheap at the price. You can't expect to be the Almighty for much less than a penknife." Seeing Edwin, he added with a nonchalant smile: "I've told Mrs. Clayhanger all about the answer to prayer. I thought she ought to know."
Edwin laughed awkwardly, saying to himself:
"Ingpen, my boy, you ought to have thought of my position first. You've been putting your finger into a rather delicate piece of mechanism. Supposing she cuts up rough with me afterwards for hiding it from her all this time! ... I'm living with her. You aren't."
"Of course," Ingpen added. "I've sworn the lady to secrecy."