“And they get there just the same!” cried Dan. “Mrs. Saintsbury used to think she had got me down pretty fine,” he suggested.
“Yes!” said Mrs. Pasmer, with an indifference which they both knew she did not feel.
“Yes. She used to accuse me of preferring to tack, even in a fair wind.”
He looked inquiringly at Mrs. Pasmer; and she said, “How ridiculous!”
“Yes, it was. Well, I suppose I am rather circuitous about some things.”
“Oh, not at all!”
“And I suppose I'm rather a trial to Alice in that way.”
He looked at Mrs. Pasmer again, and she said: “I don't believe you are, in the least. You can't tell what is trying to a girl.”
“No,” said Dan pensively, “I can't.” Mrs. Pasmer tried to render the interest in her face less vivid. “I can't tell where she's going to bring up. Talk about tacking!”
“Do you mean the abstract girl; or Alice?”