Then Christopher made a great effort and addressed her from the end of the bed, where he had taken up his position.
‘Hullo!’ he said, tugging at his collar as if to remove some obstruction to his voice.
‘Hullo!’ answered Babs, faintly, from among her pillows.
Then followed another pause. They both felt there were plenty of things to be said, but somehow they could not think of them just then. Presently, Kit remembered that she was an invalid, and that invalids always had to be kissed. He also decided that the sooner he got it over the better; so he marched round to the side of the bed and kissed her.
‘How are you, Babe?’ he asked, feeling more at his ease now that this formality was over and he was free to climb on the edge of her bed and sit there swinging his legs.
‘Oh, I’m all right,’ answered Barbara, heartily.
They both knew she was nothing of the sort, but in the Berkeley family it was a point of honour with every one, even during a visitation of toothache, to declare himself ‘all right.’
‘How are you, Kit?’ asked Babs, after a little further reflection.
‘I’m all right, thanks,’ answered Christopher, faithfully, and he whistled a tune to fill the next pause. ‘Awfully poor lying here, isn’t it?’ he resumed presently.
Barbara nodded. ‘It’s stale,’ she said expressively.