"I enjoyed myself very much," said the Sailor simply.
"The Pridmores are very old friends of mine. An interesting family, I always think."
They walked on in silence for a little time, and then the Sailor said suddenly:
"Mary seems to have strong ideas about divorce." As he spoke he felt a curious tension.
"Surprisingly so," said Edward Ambrose, in his detached way, "for such a modern girl. Somehow one doesn't quite expect it."
"No," said the Sailor.
"It is the measure of her genuineness." Edward Ambrose seemed at that moment to be addressing his words less to the young man at his side than to the stars of heaven. "But she is very complex to me. I've known her all her life.... I've watched her grow up." A whimsical sigh was certainly addressed to the stars of heaven. "It is rather wonderful to see all that Pridmore and Colthurst crassness and narrowness, that has somehow made England great in spite of itself—if you know what I mean..."
The Sailor didn't know in the least, but that was of no consequence to Edward Ambrose in the expression of his mood.
"... touched to finer issues."
The Sailor knew now, but his companion gave him no chance to say so.