'I think you hurt her without being conscious of it. Her sense of humour is not keen, and I know she is pained when you least suspect it.'
A ghost of a smile stirred about Ryder's mouth. 'I would not pain her for the world,' he said. 'She is a kindly little woman, and her hospitality is charming; but you must admit she is droll. What are my faults?'
'Forgive me if I seem to be treating you as a pupil.'
'There is no one on earth to whom I would rather go to school.
'Well, then, you must not laugh at Mrs. Macdougal.
'But, really, is one expected to take those extravagantly romantic poses seriously?'
'They are meant seriously.'
'The eyes and sighs, the pensive melancholy, the little maladies, the mysterious missing family? You must not tell me this is not burlesque.'
'I am sure you know it is not. Mrs. Macdougal has dreamed so much rubbish, and read so much more, that all this humbug has become part of her nature, and one has to be a bit of a humbug one's self and humour her out of kindness In her girlhood there was no escape from the loneliness and stupidity of the Bush but in dreams.
'My manners have been abominable. I shall mind them now.'