"Only to—to see—how the paper was going on—and to—to talk things over—," she said.
"Oh!" He nodded. "Very well."
He strode forward from the mantelpiece and approached the desk at which she sat.
"I suppose Cosimo wants to know; very well. As a matter of fact I'm rather glad you've come. Look here——"
He grabbed a newspaper from the desk and thrust it almost roughly into her hands.
"Read that," he said, stabbing the paper with his finger.
The part in which he stabbed it was so unbrokenly set that it must have struck Katie Deedes as overwhelmingly learned.—"There you are—read that!" he ordered her.
Then, striding back to the mantelpiece, he stood watching her as if he had paid for a seat in a playhouse and had found standing-room only.
Amory supposed that it must be something in that close and grey-looking oblong that was at the bottom of his imperious curtness. She was sure of this when, before she had read half a dozen lines, he cut in with a sharp "Well? I suppose you see what it means to us?"
"Just a moment," she said bewilderedly; "you always did read quicker than I can——"