“They say that Captain Waring is engaged to Miss Potter, up at Simla. Does that cause you a pang, Honor?”
“Yes, a pang for Miss Potter,” she retorted. “I can’t endure Captain Waring.”
“Oh, why not? Most people are long-suffering with respect to him!”
“I hate a man who, when he talks to me, every now and then chucks me metaphorically under the chin.”
Mr. Brande now gravely focussed his eye-glass upon his niece.
“I see what you mean, dear. I’m sure, from what I know of you, he never took a second liberty with you. Sir Gloster has come back.”
Here Mrs. Brande showed signs of increased attention.
“He has got snow-blindness. He went to the glacier.”
“Why, it seems only the other day that he went away,” observed Mrs. Brande.
“Yes, just after the starvation picnic,” supplemented Honor.