“We must have been working longer than I thought. We had breakfast at half-past eight and we began working almost immediately after, didn’t we?”
“Yes. We knocked up a bit in the arch, you know.”
“Only about ten minutes. I should say we had set to work well before ten.”
“Perhaps we did,” said Reggie, “but I haven’t got through much yet. How’s the pencil getting on?”
“Oh, pretty well: but you went the wrong way about it at first!”
“There won’t be much left to write with, will there?” asked Reggie, looking at it doubtfully.
“It will last you for weeks with proper care,” said Ealing. “I think I never saw so blunt a knife. Why haven’t you got a proper knife?”
Reggie got up from the table, and strolled across to the window, and looked out.
“Be quick, old chap,” he said. “I can’t go on till it’s ready. I’m in the middle of underlining something.”
He saw an acquaintance below, and called to him.