As soon as Hepburn had seen us he had risen from his couch, but Tom continued to lie there blocking the doorway.
“What about that lean-to,” said I.
Tom rose and folded up his cot as an Arab is supposed to fold his tent. Then he set it up against the side of the house and said oracularly:
“The lean-to is indefinitely postponed. We know more than we did this morning.”
“Well, but where have you been? We walked half way to town and didn’t see you,” said Ethel.
“Exploring the country. Haven’t we, Talcott.”
“It’s a beautiful country,” said Talcott, laughing.
All through dinner those two seemed to have a secret, and as near as we could make out, Minerva was in it, because every time she came into the room and looked at Tom she smothered chuckles.
After dinner Tom said, “Mrs. Vernon, what do you say to our taking our coffee in the summer house?”
“In the summer house,” said Ethel, “why, there isn’t any summer house.”