"Oh, it's quite true that I occasionally make a remark."
"Occasionally!"
"Very occasionally, yes. When people are with you they don't talk much as a rule. Queer, isn't it?"
"I suppose," said his companion after thinking deeply for a moment, "that what you mean is that they don't get much chance."
"That was my meaning, exactly."
"I can't help talking a little sometimes, you know," said Miss Bent, icily——
"You can't, indeed!"
"No. I come by it honestly. My own father was a man!"
Silence reigned, unbroken and long. The snowshoers trudged on in silence, the lady chuckling delightedly to herself.
"I had two things to tell you," she remarked, presently, perceiving that her companion was unmoved by her silence and getting very tired of preserving it.