“Oh, a sort of bird of paradise in furs. I never liked her much, and to-day I didn’t like her at all.”
“Why?”
“She swanked about the German Army.”
Badsley had succeeded better with his second attempt to obtain refreshment.
“Jolly fine woman, I thought,” he said. “I saw her with my little eye in chapel. After that I didn’t attend any more. Why didn’t you ask me to tea, Birds?”
“Because I was going to dine with you, and I thought tea as well would be too much pleasure. I say, I feel rather rotten to-night. Sort of feeling that one doesn’t know what’s going to happen.”
“You didn’t seem to care two straws this afternoon,” said Jim.
“I know I didn’t. But it’s just beginning to be real. Whisky? Yes, why not whisky? I say, shan’t we want an army if we go to war? Where’s that to come from?”
Robin drank his glass at a draught.
“I think I’ll go to bed,” he said. “It’s no use trying to play poker if you’re thinking about something else. Good-night, Badders; thanks awfully for dinner.”