He looked at me without embarrassment, with a genuine desire for information in his face. He was evidently puzzled.

“Why?” he asked.

I laughed outright, and it did me good. He joined in it without the least idea of what I was laughing at.

“You men are so stupid!” I exclaimed. “You either will not or cannot see things which are as simple as A B C.”

“I admit it,” he answered, good humoredly. “But must you go in?”

I nodded. We had made a little circuit, and had reached the road again within a few yards of our gate.

“Yes, I am going to make something for my father. He is really ill, you know.”

“Why don’t you let your sister do it?” he said. “She looks a great deal more used to that sort of thing than you do.”

“Thanks,” I answered. “At the same time you are quite wrong. It is I who am the domestic one of the family.”

He looked distinctly incredulous.