"Not that I am aware of. I had the jolliest time."
I dropped the subject, and we talked of other matters, with a lame attempt at civility on both sides, until Barbara re-entered the room, when he cried out:
"I say, Barbara, what is this about my meeting with an accident on the Continent?"
"You did meet with an accident," she said, boldly.
"Did I? Well, then, I did." He looked me full in the face, and laughed.
"I am disgusted with you, Maxwell," Barbara exclaimed. "Don't pay any attention to him, John; you can't believe a word out of his mouth."
Thereupon he laughed still more boisterously, winding up with, "Don't expect me to take a hand in your matrimonial squabbles; you must settle them yourselves."
"We don't have any, do we, John?" said Barbara, in her sweetest tone.
Maxwell appeared to be immensely amused, and they had a bantering bout, in which I took neither share nor interest. When they appealed to me I replied in monosyllables, until Barbara said:
"There, you have offended him. Ask his pardon immediately. I won't have my dear boy annoyed."