Nesta reminded him of certain verses he had written to celebrate her visit to the place when she was a child:
'"And then along the pier we sped,
And there we saw a Whale
He seemed to have a Normous Head,
And not a bit of Tail!"'
'Manifestly a foreigner to our shores, where the exactly inverse condition rules,' Colney said.
'"And then we scampered on the beach,
To chase the foaming wave;
And when we ran beyond its reach
We all became more brave."'
Colney remarked: 'I was a poet—for once.'
A neat-legged Parisianly-booted lady, having the sea, winds very enterprising with her dark wavy, locks and jacket and skirts, gave a cry of pleasure and—a silvery 'You dear!' at sight of Nesta; then at sight of one of us, moderated her tone to a propriety equalling the most conventional. 'We ride to-day?'
'I shall be one,' said Nesta.
'It would not be the commonest pleasure to me, if you were absent.'
'Till eleven, then!'
'After my morning letter to Ned.'