He gave her a quick, shrewd glance; there was just the suspicion of a smile at the corners of his lips as he answered carelessly:—
"Well, they get you along quicker, you know."
"Yes," she said, "and of course when you've a lot to do—when you are very busy—that's a consideration."
There was a little pause. She glanced at him and smiled maliciously. He had flushed a little.
"Yes," he agreed nonchalantly.
She watched three women frantically tearing about in search of a hansom, but she was thinking of Ted. What a cool voice he had! She wasn't sure that it wasn't impertinent. And as for his looking tired and ill—well, of course he would, living an unhealthy, self-indulgent, lazy life. Suddenly she began to contrast his mode of life with Denis's before they had left Kilbrannan. Impulsively she spoke her thoughts aloud, keeping, in actual words, only to Denis, his prowess in the hunting field, football, and so on; but her expressive voice and face pointed the moral, drew the contrast, as plainly as if she had spoken it. There was another pause when she stopped.
Then Denis appeared with the others. The relief in her welcome was unmistakable.
"Got her! She was rushing off in a frenzy straight for the North Pole! You're not going, Lancaster? Rot! Come along with us, old chap, and be introduced to Jimmy O'Driscoll."
Ted glanced at Nell; it was an odd glance, and his mouth twisted in a sudden dry smile.
"Yes, won't you?" she said carelessly.