'Oh, they're so good, Henry! I didn't know—I didn't realise—just everybody's talking about them! Everybody! You've no idea! It's been splendid of you to—you know, to answer people that way.'
I don't think Martha meant to touch on the one most difficult topic. They both reddened again.
After a longer pause, she tried it again.
'I just love reading them myself. And I wish you could hear the things Jim—Mr Merchant—says....'
She was actually dragging him in!
... He's really a judge. You've no idea, Henry!' He met Kipling at a tea in New York. He knows lots of people like—you know, editors and publishers, people like that. And he crossed the ocean once with Richard Harding Davis. He says you're doing a very remarkable thing... original note.... Sunbury is going to be proud of you. He wouldn't let anything—you know, personal—influence his judgment. He's very fair-minded.'
Henry dug and dug at the plush.
She was pulling at her left glove.
What on earth!...
She had it off.