"Oh!"
"And then you struck in, in your usual lordly fashion, and begged him to join us. And I'm bound to say he took it very well, not to say jumped at it."
"Hennie, you're a—"
"Yes, I know. And if I live I'll be a be-a, and perhaps more besides,"—with a cryptic nod.
"Now, what do you mean by that?"
"Wait patiently, my child, and you'll see."
"I believe the Sark air is affecting your—whatever you've got inside that giddy head of yours."
"Of course it is. That's what I came for, and to keep you out of mischief, you infantile law-breaker."
XI
Graeme's two minutes were each set with considerably more than the regulation sixty seconds—diamond seconds of glowing anticipation, every one of them. And, to his credit, be it recorded that he allotted several of them to the invocation of most fervent blessings on Miss Penny, who, at the moment, was vigorously disclaiming any pretension thereto.