“Thanks awfully, but I had tea with a chap in college.”
“Well, have another.”
David considered this proposition simply on its own merits.
“Well, I think I will,” he said. “But you’ve got a rotten fire. Shan’t I take your kettle to the gas-stove?”
“Yes; good egg. Pour a little into the teapot first, though. Hi! Not over my fingers.”
“Sorry. It didn’t really touch you, did it?”
Maddox laughed.
“No, of course not. I should have smacked your head if it had. Thought it was going to.”
“Just for safety,” said David. “I always swear before I’m hurt. Then they take more care.”
“Yes; stick my kettle bang in the middle of the gas-stove. Say it’s mine if any one objects.”