He nodded.
“Two words only—‘Well done.’ I have it in my pocket to-night.”
She abandoned the subject precipitately.
“And your social schemes?”
“They progress,” he answered thoughtfully. “I have had disappointments, but on the whole—yes, I am satisfied. When you are at Gascester, I should like to show you some of my experiments.”
She talked for a few minutes to her neighbor on the other side. Then she turned to him and smiled.
“This is the second time we have met at dinner,” she said.
“I do not need to be reminded of it,” he answered quietly. “Your brother asked me to stay to supper—I think he had forgotten that you were there. I was in my working clothes, and I am afraid that the flannel shirt was a fact.”
She smiled.
“Yes, and you laid down the law upon Ruskin, criticised ‘Sesame and Lilies,’ and talked of Walter Pater as though you had known him all your life. You were a revelation and a puzzle to me. I was so weary of life just then. I believe you were the first living person who had interested me for many months.”