"Oh! he is so deaf!" she murmured, half turning to me, though I was not quite sure that she was not speaking to herself. The next second she settled the question. "He is so distressingly deaf," she repeated in an undertone, with the faintest accent of appeal for sympathy in her voice. I again recognized the flag of truce. But I replied calmly:
"I passed by his garden and marked with one eye
How the owl and the panther were sharing a pie.
The panther took pie-crust and gravy and meat,
While the owl had the dish as its share of the treat."
The color mantled in her cheek and she raised her head slightly.
"Are you going to keep that up? I suppose we shall have to talk a little. I think we are attracting attention. For Heaven's sake, don't speak so loud! We are being observed."
But I continued:
"When the pie was all finished, the owl, as a boon,
Was kindly permitted to pocket the spoon."
"It is very rude of you to go on in that way when I am speaking. You remind me of a machine," she smiled. "Here am I stuck between two men, one of whom cannot hear a word I say, while the other does nothing but run on like a machine." I observed, with deep content, that she was becoming exasperated.
At that moment the hostess leant forward and said:
"What are you two so interested in discussing there? I have been watching, and you have not stopped a minute."
Eleanor Leigh burst into a laugh. "Mr. Glave is talking Arabic to me."