Barnes was in hope that perhaps she might seat herself, if he were long enough about this business of packing up the rods, but she didn’t. She watched him with interest but with no other thought in mind than returning to the house as soon as he was ready. So with a little sigh, he finally tied the cloth case at the top in a knot that no human being could ever separate without the use of a knife.
“I never can untie that,” she protested.
“All you have to do,” he assured her with honest conviction, “is to pull the loop string.”
“Don’t you know how to make a real bow-knot?” she asked.
“Isn’t that a bow-knot?”
“A bow-knot has two loops and comes untied,” she informed him.
“I thought the object of a knot was to remain tied. Mine have at least that advantage.”
“But you want them to untie sometime.”
“You cut mine when you wish to undo them,” he explained.
“That is both wasteful and untidy. I will show you.”