"Oh, but—that's not new," Olwen protested quickly. "That's over."
"Over? Then—if you don't mind telling me, what do you feel about Captain Ross now? What does he mean in your life?"
Little Olwen had asked herself this very same question until she'd given it up, and now she scarcely knew whether to laugh or to shrug her shoulders.
"I'll tell you," she said lightly, after a moment, "exactly how I feel about Captain Ross. I would have told you before, if you'd asked me. To start with, I work all day at the Honeycomb, where there are hundreds of other girls, and men. Some of these people amuse me, and some don't, so——"
"But——'amuse'——" repeated Golden, blankly. "Does that stand for anything big?"
The soft Welsh voice of the other girl retorted, "It does, when you are working, and—and there isn't anything else. Isn't it natural that one likes the amusing people best? Mrs. Newton is amusing. Major Leefe doesn't mean to be, but he is. Mr. Ellerton is nice to go about with——"
Again Golden broke in gently. "Olwen! I don't like to hear you talk that way."
"Why not? Les Pins is over. And when a thing's over," pronounced this sage of twenty, "sensible people don't waste any more time on it."
"When you say that, it seems to me to be belittling a very——" Golden made the characteristic American pause after the adverb—"beautiful thing."
"It's different for you who have one man meaning the whole world to you. As I haven't. Well, I want to be amused, Golden."