"I'll take one, Les," said Vivian. She selected one and passed the case on to her mother. Sara shook her head.
"No, thanks," she said.
Mrs. Redmond Wrandall laid her cigarette down without attempting to light it, a sudden frostiness in her manner. Vivian and Leslie blew long plumes of smoke from the innermost recesses of their lungs.
"Nerves?" asked Vivian mildly.
"I don't like Leslie's brand," explained Sara.
"They're excellent, I think," said Mrs. Wrandall, and thereupon accepted a light from Leslie.
"Well, let's be off," said he, somewhat irritably. "Tell Miss Castleton we're sorry to have missed her."
It was then that Sara prevailed upon them to stop for luncheon. "She always takes these long walks in the morning, and she will be disappointed if she finds you haven't waited—"
"Oh, as for that—" began Leslie and stopped, but he could not have been more lucid if he had uttered the sentence in full.
"Why didn't you pick her up and bring her home with you?" asked Sara, as they moved off in the direction of the porch.