Mary was standing behind him. She put her hand on his shoulder. “You are paying me out, Peter,” she said. “I know now that I don’t know as much as I thought I knew.”
“Which means?” Basset said, smiling.
“That once I thought that nothing could be done without an earthquake. I know now that it can be done with a spade.”
“So that where Mary was content with nothing but a gilt coach, Mrs. Basset is content with a nutshell.”
“If you are in the nutshell,” Mary answered softly, “only—for what we have received, Peter—let us make other people thankful.”
“We will try,” he answered.