“That’s great of you—great. You are giving me my chance. Let’s go and look at the house; let’s get at it—at once. I want to take my coat off.”
XI
From that moment they were like children carried away by the excitement of the adventure. The droop had gone from Manon’s eyelids. She glowed, she laughed, she chattered, her brown eyes alight, her heart full of the spirit of romance.
“What an adventure!”
“A very devil of an adventure,” said Brent. “I feel man enough to tackle the pyramids.”
She laughed and laid hold of his hand.
“I shall call you Paul,” she said, “and you can call me Manon. Now, we must not be in a hurry; we must consider everything—like wise people.”
“Heads first, hands afterwards. Let us go and look at the house, and get our plans on paper.”
He carried the two boxes down into the street, while Manon searched in her handbag for something. She joined him on the strip of grey pavé between the wrecked houses, a note-book in one hand, a pencil in the other.
“You see I have a head.”