“She is not going to stay away long, is she?” Cyril asked.
“I shouldn’t think so. I believe Evan’s sisters are going to stay there next week.”
“Well, absence makes the heart grow fonder,” he observed. “I am very sorry about Dicky. I don’t think you made a great success there, Sue.”
“I had nothing to do with it,” she protested. “I implored her to wait. If anything it was your fault for having Evan always about here.”
“Now how could I help that?” Cyril inquired. “I couldn’t have a maiden lady as my A.D.C., and if I had, you would have said that I taught her to be wicked. As it was, I just tried not to worry.”
“Is there anything else I can say for you to twist round, Cyril dear?” asked his wife. “I am delighted to give you opportunities for your wit, but sometimes it is hardly possible to open one’s mouth.”
“I am sorry,” he said penitently. “I don’t want to tease you, really. I love everything you say. But when you blamed me for not keeping Hatton in a cupboard like a bottle of whisky labelled ‘not to be taken,’ I thought you were coming it a little strong.”
“They don’t seem to me to be very happy,” said Susie, prepared to start again amicably. “I wish he wouldn’t carry religion quite so far.”
“How far does he carry it?” asked Cyril, “You see, he never had occasion to bring it to me at all, so I don’t know.”
“Oh quite ridiculous lengths,” Susie replied. “He thinks quite a number of things wrong.”