"I've been back an hour myself, and they said you'd gone out before," her husband retorted suspiciously.
"Perhaps it was earlier," Adelle replied indifferently.
She cared less than she had once for Archie's outbursts of temper, and at present her mind was occupied with other matters than calming him. Archie looked at her with a peculiar stare in which ugliness and something more evil were mixed.
"Been having such an interesting conversation that you didn't know how fast time was going?" he sneered.
"Yes," Adelle replied literally.
"Talkin' with that fellow?" Archie demanded, hitching a shoulder in the direction of the stone mason, who was still sitting not far off watching the couple.
"Yes, I had something important to say to him," Adelle replied, and started away.
But Archie did not stir.
"I have something important to say to him, too," he growled, walking towards the mason.
"Archie!" Adelle called.