“Where did you drop from? I was going to come for you later.”

“I left after dinner, and, finding you were home, I took liberties with your solitude. Can I sit down in the holy place?”

Her gayety did not ring true. Matthew pushed a chair up to the fire and she sat down in it. Matthew watched her, sparkling even in the firelight.

“Such a fool bunch,” sighed Fliss.

“Not yearning for intellectual heights are you, Fliss?” asked her husband lightly.

She flushed a little and moved back out of the ring of firelight. “It would be absurd, wouldn’t it?”

“Your going in for the intellectual heights? I wouldn’t say absurd, but a bit out of your line, perhaps.”

“Out of my line.”

“Feeling a little down?”

“Bored.”