“I am not deaf,” replied the old lady testily, “but I can’t hear a word when people shout at me. I use this trumpet because I am subject to tinnitus aurium. Now repeat your remark in an ordinary conversational tone, enunciate your syllables, and don’t shuffle your feet.”
“I saw some nice-looking kids—I beg your pardon—I mean I saw some——”
“There is nothing to beg my pardon about,” cut in Lady Seagrave. “Well, go on; what were you going to say—you saw some kids. Where did you see them, and what about them?”
“I saw them on the road,” said Dicky desperately, for he felt quite beyond trying to explain his real meaning.
“That’s right,” said Lady Seagrave in a soothed voice. “Speak at that pitch and I will be able to hear you. You saw these creatures on the road—well, what were they doing?”
“I don’t know,” replied Mr Fanshawe meekly; “they were—being driven by a man.”
“Yes, but what about them?”
“How do you mean?”
“I mean exactly what I say—what about them?”
“Nothing, I only mentioned the fact.”