I never felt such a duffer. It was awful. With all the millions of
interesting things that there are to say at other times, and I couldn't
think of one. At last I said, 'Do you like games?'
[Illustration: So we all sat on chairs in the drawing-room, and thought
of nothing to say harder than ever.]
And our cousin replied, 'Some games I do,' in a tone that made me sure
that the games he liked wouldn't be our kind, but some wild Indian sort
that we didn't know.
I could see that the others were feeling just like me, and I knew we
could not go on like this till tea-time. And yet I didn't see any other
way to go on in. It was Hilda who cut the Gorgeous knot at last. She
said:
'Hugh, let you and I go and make a lovely surprise for Rupert and
Sidney.'
And before I could think of any way of stopping them without being
downright rude to our new cousin, they had fled the scene, just like any
old conspirators. Rupert--me, I mean--was left alone with the stranger.
I said:
'Is there anything you'd like to do?'