Mrs. Pett could not check an incautious exclamation.
"Did Skinner recognise—?" she began; then stopped herself abruptly.
Ann laughed.
"Did he recognise Jimmy? Of course! He was hardly likely to have forgotten him, surely? It isn't much more than a week since he was waiting on him in London."
"It was a very impressive meeting," said Jimmy. "Rather like the reunion of Ulysses and the hound Argos, of which this bright-eyed child here—" he patted Ogden on the head, a proceeding violently resented by that youth—"has no doubt read in the course of his researches into the Classics. I was Ulysses, Skinner enacted the role of the exuberant dog."
Mrs. Pett was not sure whether she was relieved or disappointed at this evidence that her suspicions had been without foundation. On the whole, relief may be said to have preponderated.
"I have no doubt he was pleased to see you again. He must have been very much astonished."
"He was!"
"You will be meeting another old friend in a minute or two," said Mrs. Pett.
Jimmy had been sinking into a chair. This remark stopped him in mid-descent.