“Collecting, my dear.”
“Without Arthur? Now look here, Bolter, the very fact of your wanting to go collecting without Arthur, whom you always talk about as being a brother naturalist, looks suspicious.”
“Indeed, my dear, I do want to go collecting.”
“Collecting? Rubbish!”
“No, my dear, it is not. I’m afraid you will never realise the value of my specimens.”
“You are going collecting, then?” said Mrs Doctor.
“Yes, my dear.”
“Without Arthur?”
“Yes; he does not get on very well in the jungle; and he is rather awkward in a boat.”
“Then I shall go with you myself,” said the little lady, decidedly.