“Oh, no,” said Dr. Balman flatly, without looking up from his salad. “I had finished anyhow.”
“Oh,” said Corole, and Dr. Letheny’s thin mouth curved the least bit.
“So you have been bridge-building in Uruguay?” I addressed Jim Gainsay. He turned his keen eyes steadily toward me.
“Yes.”
“I suppose Uruguay is now prosperous, European, and civilized?” I went on, hoping to get him started telling of some of the adventures that must have befallen him. I have an explorer’s instincts and stay-at-home habits, so have to get my travels by proxy.
“Yes. Though the remoter portions are still, in some respects, the Banda Oriental.”
“The Banda Oriental?” said Corole blankly.
“The Purple Land that England lost,” said Maida softly, and Gainsay’s eyes met hers with quick interest—interest and something more.
Corole’s eyelids flickered.
“Serve coffee in the Doctor’s study, Huldah,” she said. “And open the windows.”