"Why do you?" she asked, after a little pause.
"Why do I what?"
"Shirk your responsibilities," she said. "This is a healthy and a delightful spot: a woman might be very happy here."
There was an awkward silence.
"I'm afraid I've been awfully impertinent," said Patricia, hurriedly rising, "but to a woman there is a note of interrogation behind every bachelor—especially nice bachelors—and the more 'confirmed' he is, the bigger the question mark."
Sanders rose to her.
"One of these days I shall do something rash," he threatened, with that shy laugh of his. "Here is your little family coming."
Bones and Hamilton were discussing something heatedly, and justice was on the side of Lieutenant Tibbetts, if one could judge by the frequency with which he stopped and gesticulated.
"It really is too bad," said the annoyed Hamilton, as he mounted the steps to the stoep, followed by Bones, who, to do him justice, did not adopt the attitude of a delinquent, but was, on the contrary, injured virtue personified.
"What is too bad, dear?" asked the girl sympathetically.