Laura denied it.
"If I may say so, you look as if you'd been at it far too long."
"No. I'm never at it long enough. The bother is getting back to where you were half-an-hour ago. It seems to take up most of the time."
"Then I oughtn't—ought I—to take up any of it?"
"Oh, please," said Laura, "take it. I can't do anything with it."
She had the air of offering it to him like bread and butter on a plate.
"Time," she said, "is about all we've got here. At any rate there will be time for tea." She examined the cupboard. "It looks as if time were about all we were going to have for tea." She explored the ultimate depth of the cupboard. "I wonder if I could find some jam. Do you like jam?"
"I adore it."
That was all they said.
"Need you," said Nina to Prothero, "spread the butter quite so thick?" Even in her agony she wondered how much, at the rate he was spreading it, would be left for the Kiddy's supper.