'No, Mr. Nettlepoint.'
'Ah, very little. He's a good deal younger than I.'
She was silent a moment; after which she said: 'He's younger than me, too.' I know not what drollery there was in this but it was unexpected and it made me laugh. Neither do I know whether Miss Mavis took offence at my laughter, though I remember thinking at the moment with compunction that it had brought a certain colour to her cheek. At all events she got up, gathering her shawl and her books into her arm. 'I'm going down—I'm tired.'
'Tired of me, I'm afraid.'
'No, not yet.'
'I'm like you,' I pursued. 'I should like it to go on and on.'
She had begun to walk along the deck to the companion-way and I went with her. 'Oh, no, I shouldn't, after all!'
I had taken her shawl from her to carry it, but at the top of the steps that led down to the cabins I had to give it back. 'Your mother would be glad if she could know,' I observed as we parted.
'If she could know?'
'How well you are getting on. And that good Mrs. Allen.'