“Why, the position,” I replied, “between Mary and myself.”
For a moment the silence was almost terrifying. Then he dropped his umbrella, and I put my foot upon it.
“Between who?” he said. “Between who?”
“Between Mary,” I repeated, “and myself.”
“But do you mean to tell me,” he cried, “that as Vice-President—as Vice-President, I say, of a Union such as ours——”
I touched his sleeve again.
“Or shall we say an Union, seeing that Union begins with a vowel?”
But he stamped his foot, evidently losing self-control.
“No, we won’t,” he screamed. “We won’t say an Union. Why should we say an Union if we don’t want to? We don’t say an Youth or an Yew-tree.”
“Simply,” I replied, “because the two latter words happen to be inaugurated with a consonant.”