"Surely," she said, "only hurry. This isn't strictly according to Hoyle."
"You mean it's against the rules?"
Annabel nodded, her mouth full of pins.
"Then I'd better go."
"Nonsense, stay where you are! I was dying for some one to hook me up. Ruth's in the tub—been there an hour. If you hear any one coming, step in the closet."
"I shouldn't have come only I knew I was going to be homesick, and—"
"And Joy wasn't a very good antidote, was she?"
"Hardly. She won't talk."
Annabel laughed.
"You'll have to do what Sue did last year. That awful silence got on her nerves. Not that she was so anxious to hear Joy talk, but she got tired of putting forth all the effort. Well, she got somebody to make out a list of subjects on a typewriter. She gave it to Joy. 'Now,' she said, 'for goodness sake, talk. Choose, in any order you like, but talk!'"