"Pray come in," he said, and opened the door of the room opposite the dining room. The Atom's face kindled triumphantly as she looked round. Miss Kezia's grim voice seemed to hover alluringly round the solid mahogany chairs and table.
"You are not to enter this room. Remember, I have forbidden you."
Sheila Pat climbed on to one of the big chairs and sat down with a complacent smile.
Herr Schmidt eyed her anxiously.
"You are quite sure you are not hurt, meine liebe? It was a bad fall, a very bad fall."
Sheila Pat looked surprised. As a matter of fact her left elbow was smarting badly, and her left ankle bone, too, but in the O'Brien phraseology, this did not signify a "hurt." Moreover she objected to his alluding again to her undignified entrance into the hall. She gave her skirts a pull, and turned the conversation.
"How-d'you-do?" she said.
He came forward and gravely shook hands.
"It is ze fine day, hein?" he observed, with a curious elephantine anxiety to be properly polite to his very polite visitor.
The Atom's eyes turned to the window and studied the brilliant pink sky beyond it.