Nick's plaintive lament came to an abrupt conclusion two seconds later, and Max turned back into the room with his hands thrust deep in his pockets, and one side of his mouth cocked at an angle expressive of extreme satisfaction. He had dared a good deal that day, far more than Olga vaguely dreamed, and events had proved him more than justified.
CHAPTER X
A TALK IN THE OPEN
Noel dined with the Musgraves that night. His mood was hilarious throughout, but he seemed for some reason unwilling to discuss the adventure he had shared with Olga in the temple, and of their rescuer he scarcely spoke at all. He seemed in fact to have practically dismissed the whole matter from his mind, and when he bade them farewell at the end of the evening Daisy acknowledged to her husband that she was disappointed.
"I felt so sure he had begun to care for Olga," she said. "He doesn't often miss his opportunities, that boy."
"Perhaps Olga doesn't chance to care for him," suggested Will, with his arm round his wife's waist. "That does happen sometimes, you know."
She smiled, her cheek against his shoulder. "I can't imagine any girl resisting Noel's charms if he were the first comer—as I fancy he must be," she said.
"I wonder if he is," said Will. "She told me the other night she had never been in love, but she seemed to know so much about the disease that I rather doubted her veracity."
"Fancy your living to call it a disease!" said Daisy, with a faint sigh.
He stooped and kissed her. "Oh, I'm not a cynic, my dear," he said.
"Shall we call it an incurable affection of the heart instead?"