"How was Ted looking when you saw him?" she asked abruptly. "Perhaps you didn't notice, though?"
"Oh, yes," said Paul, blandly. "I've never seen him looking better; he seemed to have had a splendid time out there. He asked after you, by the way, and seemed rather surprised that I hadn't heard from you."
She made no comment, and they reached the boat in silence.
"You will come back to tea with me?" she said, as they stood waiting for it to start.
"With you,—or with unsophistication?"
"Oh, with me of course! Don't you think you have been funny enough for one afternoon?"
"Our best jokes are always our unconscious ones," murmured Paul. "Seriously, though, I think I won't bother you any more. I shall only be in the way if I stay any longer."
"Now what have I done," she demanded indignantly, "to make you think you are in the way?"
"Oh, of course—nothing. So foolish of me!" said Paul humbly. "I shall be delighted to return with you; there are still so many things we want to say to each other, are there not?"
However, they did not say them on the way home, for Katharine soon became thoughtful again, and he made no further attempt to draw her out but remained studiously at the other end of the boat until they landed; and after that, the noise of the cab in which they drove across Paris was sufficient excuse for refraining from anything like conversation. At the top of the stairs, as they stayed for a moment outside her appartement to recover their breath, she suddenly turned to him with one of her unaccountable smiles.