"I!" said Heath. "Oh, I didn't know I was in question! Surely we were talking about the impression Algiers made upon you."
"Well, but if you condemn me for not being more enthusiastic, surely it is natural for me to wonder why you wouldn't for anything set foot in the African Paradise."
She laughed. Her nerves felt on edge after the journey. And something in the mental atmosphere affected her unfavorably.
"But, Miss Charmian, I don't condemn you. It would be monstrous to condemn anyone for not being able to feel in a certain way. I hope I have enough brains to see that."
He spoke almost hotly.
"Your mother and I had been imagining that you were having a wonderful time," he added. "Perhaps it was stupid of us."
"No. Algiers is wonderful."
Heath had changed her, had suddenly enabled her to be more natural.
"I include Mustapha, of course. Some of the gardens are marvellous, and the old Arab houses. And I think perhaps you would have thought them more marvellous even than I did."
"But, why?"