“It—it wasn’t so much what he said, exactly—no, not so much that,” Lucius circumlocuted. “It was more the—the length of time we were talking about you. That was the thing that struck me about it, because I didn’t know—that is, I’d never heard—I——”
“What are you trying to say, Mr. Allen?”
“Well, I mean,” said Lucius, “I mean I hadn’t known that he came around here at all.”
“He doesn’t.”
“That’s why I was so surprised.”
“Surprised at what?” she said impatiently.
“Why,” said Lucius, “surprised at the length of time that we were talking about you!”
“What nonsense!” she cried. “What nonsense! I don’t suppose he’s said two words to me or I to him in two years!”
“Yes,” Lucius assented. “That’s what makes it all the more remarkable! I supposed the only girl he ever thought anything about was Molly Baker, but he told me the only reason he ever goes there is just because she lives next door to him.”
“Not very polite to Molly!” said Miss Ricketts, and she laughed with some indulgence for this ungallantry.