"Another time perhaps----"
Had all these things really been said, or was he under some fantastic
hallucination?
He had a sudden thought. "Where's your cigarette?" he asked.
But her cigarette had ended long ago.
"And what have you been talking about so long?" sang Mrs. Bunting, with
an almost motherly hand on the back of Melville's chair.
"Oh!" said Melville, at a loss for once, and suddenly rising from his
chair to face her, and then to the Sea Lady with an artificially easy
smile, "What _have_ we been talking about?"
"All sorts of things, I dare say," said Mrs. Bunting, in what might
almost be called an arch manner. And she honoured Melville with a
special smile--one of those smiles that are morally almost winks.
[Illustration: The waiter retires amazed.]
My cousin caught all the archness full in the face, and for four seconds
he stared at Mrs. Bunting in amazement. He wanted breath. Then they
all laughed together, and Mrs. Bunting sat down pleasantly and remarked,
quite audibly to herself, "As if I couldn't guess."