She turned to speak to him as Ella and Sylvester confronted each other. Ella put out her hand.
“I hope you are well,” she said.
“Quite well; and you?”
“You ought to be able to judge.”
“You seem to be in good health,” he said. “What maladies may lurk beneath the surface, I cannot tell.”
“I don't suppose you can,” she was tempted to say. She saw that he understood, but he made no reply, and there was an awkward pause.
“I'm going to see Uncle Matthew in August,” she said at last.
“So I have heard. I'm going to Switzerland, so I shall not have the pleasure of meeting you. Do you know many people here?”
The pointed banality of the question angered her.
“Will you never have a kind word to say to me?” she flashed out in a quick undertone, then she turned and greeted the professor effusively.