“Quite, thank you.”
“You’ll find it dullish, I expect.”
“No—rather exciting, so far.”
The young men took each other’s measure, and then Dick Stamford said in a different tone—
“Well, come in and have a game of billiards with me when you’ve nothing better to do.”
“Thanks, I shall be very pleased,” said Andy.
It was queer how anxiously Mrs. Stamford had looked from one to the other during the little conversation, and more odd still that this tough, unemotional woman should be unable to keep back a long sigh of relief when it was over.
“Have a turn in the garden until the others turn up?” said Dick, after a pause.
So the two young men went out, and a moment later Mr. Stamford came into the room, limping slightly, and walking with a stick. As he closed the door he looked across anxiously at his wife.
“Well?”