Mrs. Barratt and Miss Steele were also present. He rose as she entered, cup in hand, and smiled at her. Then he sat down and went on talking to Mr. Thwaites.

American and British institutions and customs were being compared and contrasted, and Lieutenant Pike, in the matter of words per minute, was more than holding his own with the tyrant. This pleased her a good deal. She realised that they were both, in their different ways, insurmountable talkers, but the Lieutenant, in a combat of this sort, had the power of youth, together with the gift and tradition in loquacity peculiar to his nation, on his side.

They talked until a quarter to six, and then Mr. Thwaites left the room in a sardonic temper and disliking the United States of America more than usual. By this time Mrs. Barratt and Miss Steele had also gone, and she was left alone in the Lounge with Lieutenant Pike. ‘Well,’ he said, rising and smiling at her again, ‘it’s just about time you and I went for a walk, isn’t it?’

She had no difficulty in seeing that by this he meant that it was just about time that the public-houses were opening their doors, and although she was not certain that she was going to accept his invitation, she felt a lift of pleasure and relief. So it was not ‘all over’, after all!

‘Is it?’ she said, and a few minutes later he was holding her arm as they steered a course along the black street in the direction of the River Sun.

3

She begged him to make her gin and french a small one, and this time he did as she wished. This improved her opinion of him. She noticed that he was faithful to a large whisky and soda for himself. She asked him how they had all got on last night, and he groaned deeply and raised his eyes to heaven – thus indicating that he had drunk to excess and now bitterly repented it. She asked him about the two girls, and he said, casually, oh, they had faded out soon after her. At once her heart, in the same occult collusion with the gin and french as had come into being the night before, began to glow. He was now definitely on her side against yesterday evening, as yesterday evening he had been on her side against the Rosamund Tea Rooms, and the same warm, exhilarating atmosphere began to prevail.

The Saturday-night place became very crowded, but they had a comfortable corner to themselves. Every now and again he went to the bar to refill their glasses. She felt the drink affecting her potently, but this time the result was not one of making her unhappy, of setting her on edge, but of composing her beautifully, of balancing and refreshing her.

She dreaded the renewed appearance of Lieutenant Lummis and the two girls, but this did not happen. Soon enough she noticed that it was six and twenty minutes past seven, which meant that she had four minutes in which to return to the Rosamund Tea Rooms for dinner. She mentioned the time of the evening to Lieutenant Pike, but it did not seem to impress him. A little later she mentioned it again, and he explained that they were going to eat upstairs at the River Sun. Though she had been prepared for this, she was filled with joy and terror. She said, if that was the case, she must ‘let them know’. He said why let them know, it was a free country, wasn’t it? She said they would ‘worry’. He said let them worry. Pressed on the point, he agreed that it might be wise to telephone, and said he would do so himself in the near future. Pressed to do so at once, he got up and did so. When he returned she eagerly asked to whom he had spoken, and what had been ‘said’.