"But you have something on your mind, too. You have me. Why doesn't Jack go?"
"Well, I rather think he has Violet on his mind. Did you ever see anything so spooney as they looked all through dinner yesterday and luncheon to-day? I didn't think it was in Violet."
"Did she never look at you like that?" asks Mona, maliciously; "in the early days, I mean, before—before——"
"I fell a victim to your charms? No. Jack has it all to himself as far as I'm concerned. Well, I must be off, you know. It is a tremendous drive, and I'll barely do it in time. I shall be back about two in the morning."
"Not until two?" says Mona, growing miserable again.
"I can't well get away before that, you know, as Wigley is a good way off. But I'll try all I know. And, after all," says Geoffrey, with a view to cheering her, "it isn't as bad as if I was ordered off somewhere for a week, is it?"
"A week? I should be dead when you came back," declares Mrs. Geoffrey, with some vehemence, and a glance that shows she can dissolve into tears at a moment's notice.
"Some fellows go away for months," says Geoffrey, still honestly bent on cheering her, but unfortunately going the wrong way to work.
"Then they ought to be ashamed of themselves," says Mona, with much indignation. "Months indeed!"
"Why, they can't help it," explains he. "They are sent half the time."