When the guests had lingeringly departed I saw, as I went to my room,
three male forms leaping up the second flight of stairs toward the
Judge's den.
"Don't you envy them the chance to soothe their nerves with a pipe
beside the fire up there?" I asked Hepatica as, with hair down and
trailing, loose garments, she came into my room through the door which
we had discovered could be opened between our quarters.
"Indeed I do. They went up those stairs like three dogs loosed from the
leash, didn't they? Can one blame them?"
"One cannot."
Hepatica gazed at me. I stared back. But we were under our host's roof.
"Mrs. Liscombe really has quite a voice," said Hepatica, examining the
details of the tiny travelling workbag I always carry with me.
"So she has."
"It was a wonderful dinner, wasn't it?"
"It was, indeed. Would you mind having quite specially simple things to
eat for a day or two after we go back?"
"I've been planning them," admitted Hepatica.
"Mr. Hodgson's readings were--entirely new to me; were they to you? I
had never heard of the authors.
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