"Was I unspeakable——? I apologise," he said impulsively; and her smile absolved him.
"You were wiser than you knew. You escaped an infliction. It was insufferably dull. We all smiled and smiled, till there were 'miles and miles of smiles'; and we were all bored to extinction! Ask Major Desmond!"
She acknowledged his presence with a sidelong glance. He returned it with a quick look that told Roy he had been touched on the raw.
"As I spent most of the time talking to you—and as you've just recorded your sensations, I'd rather be excused," he said with a touch of stiffness. "Your innings, I suppose, old man?" And, with a friendly nod, he moved away.
Roy, watching him go, felt almost angry with the girl, and impetuously spoke his thought.
"Poor old Desmond! What did you give him a knock for? He couldn't be dull, if he tried."
"N-no," she agreed, without removing her eyes from his retreating figure. "But sometimes—he can be aggressive."
"I've never noticed it."
"How long have you known him?"
"A trifle of fifteen years."