Then she said gently, “Does he always talk as much as he did at tea?”
“Who, Miss Donnithorne?”
“Your father, my dear.”
“Not always,” I answered.
She gave a sigh of profound thankfulness.
“But does he at most times?”
“Most times he is silent,” I said, “and we are all silent too. It’s the rule at home for none of us to speak when the Professor is eating. If he likes he speaks, but none of us does.”
“What do you mean by ‘none of us’?”
“The boys and I. We sit very still. It isn’t difficult for me, because I am accustomed to it; but Alex—he sometimes moves his legs, for they are so long. Father is annoyed then. Father suffers from headache.”
“No wonder, with such a brain. His learning is colossal!”