To his surprise Matheson showed annoyance.
“I only did what was civil,” he answered shortly. “Hang it all! What else can a man do when he sees a girl bitten by a dog?”
“What else? ... Save do as I did. I dare say it gave her pleasure.”
“I don’t think it caused her emotion of any sort.”
The tone of the response did not invite a pursuance of the subject. Having in mind the speaker’s run of ill luck, Holman found it easy to excuse his irritability. He went on unmoved with his lunch, and confined his conversational efforts to the baldest commonplace, evincing neither surprise nor resentment when no reply was vouchsafed to some of his remarks.
Despite the fact that Matheson had sat down late he was the first to rise from the table.
“What are you doing this afternoon?” the other asked.
“Oh! I don’t know... I shall loaf on the stoep, I think.”
Holman looked at him closely.
“Loafing seems to agree with some people,” he said, a trifle pointedly. “It’s rather a favourite pastime of yours.”