“Oh! wouldn’t I!” with emphasis. “I’d just think how jolly lucky I was to be all that much to the good.”
Lawrence came back with his arm full of illustrated magazines.
“Nothing like plenty of literature to keep one from getting dull,” said Gwen wickedly. “But my! won’t it complicate the settling-up!”
A guard came along and told Lawrence they would be starting in two minutes, and so obsequious and marked was his deference that Gwen was again taken with an unaccountable spasm of amusement.
“You scoundrel, Lawrence,” she murmured, in an aside, “that cost you nothing short of a sovereign.”
Lawrence pretended not to hear, but led the way to their compartment and placed the magazines on the seat. Paddy was thoughtful a moment, and again a little black.
“I don’t want to travel first,” she said. “I can’t afford it. Let us meet at Holyhead and cross on the steamer together.”
“It’s a pity to waste the ticket,” said Lawrence, “and the thirds are so crowded. Besides there is no time now.”
“No, they’re just off,” put in Gwen quickly. “Good-by, Paddy. Sorry I can’t be in for that settling-up. I’m so afraid Lawrence will cheat you. Have a good time. See you on Thursday,” and a few seconds later the train was steaming out of the station.
Gwen’s last remark with reference to Thursday was an allusion to a visit she and her adoring Goliath were paying to the Blakes in a few days. They were to have gone over with Lawrence, but at the last her parents refused to part with her for Christmas Day, and they were not starting till the twenty-seventh.