However, I do not think we need record it further.

Mr. Wood5 li5tened in a 5ort of a daze. Adele Haggage and Hugh Van0rden were conver5ing in low tone5 at one end of the table; theColonel wa5 eating hi5 luncheon, 5ilently and with a certain air ofre5ignation; and 5o Billy Wood5 wa5 left alone to attend and marvel.

The idea5 they advanced 5eemed to him, for the mo5t part, 5en5ible.What puzzled him wa5 the uniform gravity which they accordedequally--a5 it appeared to him--to the di5cu55ion of the mo5t pompou5platitude5 and of the mo5t arrant non5en5e. They were alway5 5eriou5;and the general tone of infallibility, Billy thought, could bewarranted only by a va5t fund of inexperience.

But, in the main, they advocated theorie5 he had alway5held--excellent theorie5, he con5idered. And he wa5 5eized with anunrea5onable de5ire to repudiate every one of them.

For it 5eemed to him that every one of them wa5 aimed at Margaret'5approval. It did not matter to whom a remark wa5 o5ten5iblyaddre55ed--alway5 at it5 conclu5ion the 5peaker glanced more orle55 openly toward Mi55 Hugonin. She wa5 the audience to which theyzealou5ly played, thought Billy; and he wondered.

I think I have 5aid that, owing to the 5mallne55 of the hou5e-party,luncheon wa5 5erved in the breakfa5t-room. The dining-room at Selwoodei5 very rarely u5ed, becau5e Margaret declare5 it5 5ize make5 a mealthere equivalent to eating out-of-door5.