"Richard!"
They clasped hands and laughed, then they clasped hands all over again
and laughed again too, but with tears in their eyes.
Presently he said: "After all these years, Joan, and to meet in a place
like this!"
"Yes, it's a long time, isn't it!"
"It's a lifetime," he replied gravely.
They went out on to the veranda. "Mother's going to bed," she told him.
"I can stay out here for twenty minutes."
"Why only twenty minutes, Joan?"
"Because I must go and read to her when she's undressed; she's still
rather sleepless after the journey."
He was silent. Then he said: "Well, tell me all about it, please; I want
to hear everything."
She smiled at the familiar words. "That won't take twenty minutes; I can
say it in less than two."
"Then say it," he commanded.
"I was bottled, after all," she told him with mock solemnity, but her
voice shook a little.