Gethryn attempted no verbal response.
'Well, Gethryn,' went on Mr Jephson, 'was it pleasant up the river yesterday?'
Mr Jephson always preferred the rapier of sarcasm to the bludgeon of abuse.
'Yes, sir,' said Gethryn, 'very pleasant.' He did not mean to be massacred without a struggle.
'What!' cried Mr Jephson. 'You actually mean to say that you did go up the river?'
'No, sir.'
'Then what do you mean?'
'It is always pleasant up the river on a fine day,' said Gethryn.
His opponent, to use a metaphor suitable to a cricket master, changed his action. He abandoned sarcasm and condescended to direct inquiry.
'Where were you yesterday afternoon?' he said.