“Let us call them then an odd pair,” smiled Mr Bunker, unruffled; “and only hope that they’ll turn out to be the same size and different hands.”
The Countess actually condescended to smile back.
“She is a dear child,” she murmured.
“His income, I think, is sufficient,” he answered.
Humour was not conspicuous in the Grillyer family. The Countess replied seriously, “I am one of those out-of-date people, Mr Bunker, who consider some things come before money, but the Baron’s birth and position are fortunately unimpeachable.”
“While his mental qualities,” said Mr Bunker, “are, in my experience, almost unique.”
The Countess was confirmed in her opinion of Mr Bunker’s discrimination.
Late that night, after they had parted with their friends, the Baron smoked in the most unwonted silence while Mr Bunker dozed on the sofa. Several times Rudolph threw restive glances at his friend, as if he had something on his mind that he needed a helping hand to unburden himself of. At last the silence grew so intolerable that he screwed up his courage and with desperate resolution exclaimed, “Bonker!”
Mr Bunker opened his eyes and sat up.
“Bonker, I am in loff!”