“Do I look tired?”
“A little.”
She noticed that he seemed afraid to look straight into her eyes.
“Well, there was no horse to be had to-day, and in war the transport must not fail—and here’s the saw.”
He took it with an air of eagerness, pulled off the wrappings, and looked along the line of the teeth.
“Oh, great! I have been wanting it badly.”
And then she fell to admiring the work he had done, and Brent stood and smiled as a shy man smiles on such occasions.
“It is splendid,” said Manon; “you would hardly know that there had been holes in the wall. How clever you are with your hands.”
“I learnt the business when I was no taller than you are.”
“And you have been so quick. I was astonished. And then—the poor man—has had to do his own washing!”