'Come on, Meg,' as if it had been I who had stopped first.
'But,' I protested, 'what is the hurry, there was such a pretty girl
looking at you in that shop.'
'Meg, will you come, there's a man staring at you.'
'But I don't mind the pretty girl staring at you, Ross;' but my brother
said,--
'One really couldn't have one's women stared at by a chap like that.'
'Really, Ross,' I said, 'I'm not a harem.'
'You're a jolly sight more trouble to look after.'
'Oh, have you had much experience,' I asked. And then he said I was
'abominable.'
So we walked on.
'No,' said my brother, reverting violently to my education, 'girls'
schools are simply rotten. I could run one better than your woman did.
Don't even seem to have fed you properly, judging by the size you've
grown, or rather not grown. I wonder if it's too late to bring an
action for insufficient nourishment considering the price paid. There's
one thing you do really well though, and that's arithmetic.'
So I cheered up.
'I never knew anybody, no, not any single person that could add up her
wants so accurately and subtract them from her husband's bank balance
with such lightning speed.'
'I think, Ross,' I said with dignity, 'it would be better if we went
back to St Julian's.'