There was a moment's awkward silence. They could have been only a little more surprised had they seen Queen Mary turn handsprings across Trafalgar Square.
Then Tom Orman laughed and slapped Naomi on the back. "Atta girl!" he exclaimed.
Here was a new Madison; they were all sure that they were going to like her better than the old.
"I don't mind sitting down," admitted West. "And I don't mind talking, but I'm damned if I can be funny—I can't forget Clarence and Jerrold and the rest of them."
"Poor Stanley," said Rhonda. "He won't even get a decent burial."
"He don't deserve one," growled Jimmy, who had served with the Marines; "he deserted under fire."
"Let's not be too hard on him," begged Rhonda. "No one is a coward because he wants to be. It's something one can't help. We ought to pity him." Jimmy grumbled in dissent.
Bill West grunted. "Perhaps we would, if we were all stuck on him."
Rhonda turned and eyed him coolly. "He may have had his faults," she said, "but at least I never heard him say an unkind thing about any one."
"He was never awake long enough," said Jimmy contemptuously.