"I see. But how on earth did you ever get nuts on her?" Sharnbrook inquired wonderingly.
"How, indeed?" thought Peckover. "Well, you see," he answered, "out there the girls aren't enough to go round. You're lucky if you see one in a month, and somehow, when you do see her you don't care to lose sight of her. Where there's only one, that one's the best. Over here Lalage suffers by comparison."
"You bet she does," assented Sharnbrook with more warmth than gallantry.
"Out there," Peckover declared, "she was unique."
"So she is here," said Sharnbrook with conviction. "Well, if you are going to square matters with her otherwise than on a matrimonial basis, you might call the fisher-girls off me again before I'm quite landed."
"All right," assented Peckover who had now quite recovered his spirits. "I'll do anything to oblige, especially when there's a little fun attached to the job."
At that moment Miss Ethel's voice was heard singing in the corridor leading to the picture gallery.
"She's coming after me," Sharnbrook exclaimed in an agitated whisper.
"Slip out," said Peckover, "and leave me to do my best for you."
Sharnbrook gave him a nod of gratitude and ran off by the opposite door, just as Miss Ethel, keen on the scent, looked in.