Paul looked at his watch. "Sixteen minutes before we start; I do not want to hurry you, but I know you like plenty of time to tie your veil and to see that your hair is all right."

Isabel looked very cross. "You are the most detestable man I ever met!"

"That may be; but, as I remarked before, your feeling is what the old hymn terms 'well-dissembled'."

"Well, I do hate you."

"All right. If this is hatred I am well content with it, and I would not change places with the people whom you love for worlds."

Isabel looked at herself in the glass. "If there is one thing I despise more than another," she remarked to her reflection, "it is a woman who does what a man tells her."

Again Paul found refuge in silence and smiles.

Isabel hummed a tune out of Patience.

"Twelve minutes before we start," said Paul, à propos of nothing.

Isabel stole a look at him. "What should you do if I didn't go?" she asked.