“Here you are! Do prevent William from torturing this unfortunate aye-aye.”
“We thought we’d lost you,” said William. He looked from one to the other, and seemed to take stock of Denham’s unfashionable appearance. He seemed to wish to find some outlet for malevolence, but, failing one, he remained silent. The glance, the slight quiver of the upper lip, were not lost upon Katharine.
“William isn’t kind to animals,” she remarked. “He doesn’t know what they like and what they don’t like.”
“I take it you’re well versed in these matters, Denham,” said Rodney, withdrawing his hand with the apple.
“It’s mainly a question of knowing how to stroke them,” Denham replied.
“Which is the way to the Reptile House?” Cassandra asked him, not from a genuine desire to visit the reptiles, but in obedience to her new-born feminine susceptibility, which urged her to charm and conciliate the other sex. Denham began to give her directions, and Katharine and William moved on together.
“I hope you’ve had a pleasant afternoon,” William remarked.
“I like Ralph Denham,” she replied.
“Ça se voit,” William returned, with superficial urbanity.
Many retorts were obvious, but wishing, on the whole, for peace, Katharine merely inquired: