“Heavens, no!” cried David, starting forward. “We’ve been chained to them on the top of the coach for two whole hours,” he went on, in defensive explanation of his warmth. “Really, we have earned the right to a few quiet words by ourselves.”
“Oh, I don’t mind,” said Adele, quickening her pace to suit his. “Only it’s fair to warn you, though, that my temper has its limitations. I am a variable person. Sometimes it happens that all at once I weary of a joke, after it has been carried to a certain length, and then I can be as unpleasant as they make ’em.”
“I find that my own sense of humour has a tendency to flag under sustained effort, as I get older,” said David. “But there are so many pleasantries afloat—perhaps you wouldn’t mind indicating the one which particularly fatigues you, and I will put my foot on it at once.”
“Oh, by no means! That would be far too crude. We are all your guests, and you are in charge of the entertainment, and I couldn’t dream of suggesting anything.”
“Except that you find yourself no longer amused,” ventured David, cautiously.
“Oh. not at all.” She spoke with perfunctory languor, and simulated a little yawn. “I daresay it is all immensely funny, only I got up earlier than usual this morning, and no doubt that has dulled my wits somewhat.”
David perceived on the instant how matters stood. “I also rose at an extravagantly early hour,55 he said, and it is about my reasons for doing so that I want to tell you. But, first of all, let us be frank with each other. I have done nothing but accede to a situation created for me by Archie and yourself. It has been within your power to end it at any moment you choose. It has been all along much more your joke than mine. It isn’t fair to round on me for merely humouring your own conception of sport.”
Adele halted momentarily, and surveyed his composed, swarthy countenance with lifted brows. “So you saw all along that I knew!” she exclaimed, in honest surprise.
“How could I have imagined that so clumsy a performance as mine would deceive so clever a young woman?” he rejoined, with a sprightly bow.
“Oh, you did it awfully well,” she assured him, complacently. “But tell me, did Archie suspect that I knew?”