‘I suppose you’re pleased with yourself now!’ she mocked him gently.
‘Very!’ he confessed. They both laughed.
‘There was another thing that might have told you,’ he said. ‘I came out of my room before seven o’clock to-night. Have you ever known that happen before?’
‘You see, my watch had stopped,’ she explained. ‘So that is what your mother——’
‘Probably.’
‘Why didn’t you explain to her?’ she asked him.
‘I refuse to propitiate her,’ he said. ‘Besides, I wanted you to know first.’
She was silent.
‘Sheila,’ he said gently, ‘we could do such a lot together!’
She began to rise from her seat, but he placed on her knee a strong and strangely reassuring hand.