"They said they'd be doing it all day long for picnickers in these woods, if they did it once; and no profit to them."
"Well, I suppose you offered to pay them a trifle if they obliged us?"
Gareth was silent.
"Did you?"
"No...."
"But couldn't you see that was what they wanted?"
He winced under the impatient rasp in Kathleen's voice....
"What a waste of time. Here—take the kettle, and offer them a shilling for the favour."
He did not budge. Her attempts to goad him had always the effect of driving him to a defensive attitude of leaden inertia.
"I'll go," said Collins, rising.