The unkind words were spoken in a rare-sweet voice, courteously enough. Jim looked at the speaker a moment, then emphatically said "No!"
"It is quite time I was returning."
"Have you anything there to do that is more important than listening to me for fifteen minutes?"
Agatha did not pretend not to understand him. She turned toward him with unflinching eyes.
"Truth to say, yes, Mr. Hambleton, I have. I don't wish to listen to—anything."
"Oh—if you feel like that! Your 'Mr. Hambleton' is enough to strike me dumb."
"Believe me, it is the best way."
"Again, may one ask why?"
"You are going back to your own people, to your own work. And I to mine."
"But that's the very point. My idea was to—to combine them."