I didn't know. I was a little afraid to guess. But again I pondered that distance of the torch from the table's edge.... Julia was still gazing into the fire, her long hands between her knees, so that her walking-skirt shaped them. Then suddenly she looked from the fire to me.
"How many things has he talked about to-day, since he's been here?" she asked abruptly.
I moved uneasily. "Oh—how many things does one talk about in a day? Hundreds," I replied.
"But—at such a pitch!" She threw the word at me with almost accusatory energy. "Top-note all the time—birds' nests, punts, athletics, incinerators, those boys bathing——"
Less and less at my ease, I could only urge that a holiday was a holiday, and that Derry might as well have stayed at home as bring his cares with him.
"You think it's just that?" she demanded, looking me full in the face.
"I should say so."
"Hm!"
But in spite of that rather critical "Hm!" she seemed reassured. Suddenly she gave a soft chuckle.
"He was rather wonderful with those boys," she said.