His presence was less disturbing to Jenny than his slow advance. She greeted him casually as if she were saluting an acquaintance passed every morning:
"Hullo."
Maurice was silent.
"Isn't it a lovely morning?" said Jenny. "This is my sister May."
Maurice raised his cap a second time.
"I wonder," he said, looking intently at Jenny, "I wonder if—if——" he plunged into the rest of the sentence. "Can I speak to you alone a minute?"
"Whatever for?" asked Jenny.
"Oh, I wanted to ask you something."
Jenny debated with herself a moment. Why not? He had no power to move her now. She was able coldly to regard him standing there on the seashore, a stranger, no more to her than a piece of driftwood left by the tide.
"I'll catch you up in a minute," she said to May.