"Well—" Her eyes sparkled, and then she pursed her mouth as one determined not to let out secrets before the fulness of time.
"Yes?"
"I hadn't noticed the smoke in the valley, or the mud in the river, and certainly wasn't thinking about the scenery at all. I never do."
"What's your objection to scenery?"
"So horrid dull. Not just this—all scenery."
"You think so?"
"Oh, dreadful! And it's just the same with birds and trees, and all the things the poets make such a time about. I can't be bothered."
"Really!" Ethan was laughing at her harassed, overdone look.
"Oh, do forgive me! I quite forgot you were a poet, too."