"You're perfectly brutal," he said under his breath.
"Aren't you exaggerating?" she replied. "And if I had gone off with you, we'd have missed this nice supper. Do be sociable, there's a dear Paddy, and perhaps I'll run away with you next Tuesday!"
There was a babble of conversation about them, and much laughter, for Gilbert, reacting from his fright, was full of bright talk, and Sir Geoffrey, reminiscent, capped it with entertaining tales of dramatists and stage people. It was easy for Cecily and Henry to carry on their conversation in quiet tones without fear of being overheard.
"You treat me like a boy," he said reproachfully.
"You are a boy, Paddy dear, and a very nice boy!"
"I suppose," he retorted, "it's impossible for you to understand that I love you...."
"Indeed, it isn't," she interrupted. "I understand that quite easily. What I can't understand is why you wish to spoil everything by silly proposals to ... to elope!..."
"But I love you," he insisted. "Isn't that enough to make you understand?"
She shook her head, and turned again to Ninian.
"You see," Ninian said, "you bore through this big bed of chalk from both sides...."