‘O Frank, I am just floating upon golden clouds in a dream. But your poor hands! Oh, how they must pain you!’
‘Not a bit.’
‘It was that heavy oar.’
‘I get no practice at rowing. There is no place to row in at Woking, unless one used the canal. But it was worth a blister or two. By Jove, wasn’t it splendid, coming back in the moonlight with that silver lane flickering on the water in front of us? We were so completely alone. We might have been up in the interstellar spaces, you and I, travelling from Sirius to Arcturus in one of those profound gulfs of the void which Hardy talks about. It was overpowering.’
‘I can never forget it.’
‘We’ll go again to-night.’
‘But the blisters!’
‘Hang the blisters! And we’ll take some bait with us and try to catch something.’
‘What fun!’
‘And we’ll drive to Rottingdean this afternoon, if you feel inclined. Have this last cutlet, dear!’