Part 45 (2/2)
”Will she?” growled Bertie. ”She is half dead from exhaustion anyway.”
”Oh, skittles!” said Nap, turning to go.
The boy's indignation leaped to a blaze. ”Skittles to you! I know what I'm saying. And if you're not ashamed of yourself, you d.a.m.ned well ought to be!”
Nap stopped. ”What?” he drawled.
Bertie glared at him and subsided. The explosion had been somewhat more violent than he had intended.
Very quietly Nap stepped up to him. ”Will you repeat that last remark of yours?”
Bertie was silent.
”Or do you prefer to withdraw it?”
Bertie maintained a dogged silence. He was fidgeting with the paper in a fas.h.i.+on that seemed to indicate embarra.s.sment.
”Do you withdraw it?” Nap repeated, still quiet, still slightly drawling.
Bertie hunched his shoulders like a schoolboy. ”Oh, get away, Nap!” he growled. ”Yes--sorry I spoke. Now clear out and leave me alone!”
Anne was already at the further end of the hall, but Nap overtook her before she entered the breakfast room. He opened the door for her, and as she pa.s.sed him she saw that he was still faintly smiling.
”Pardon the _contretemps_!” he said. ”You may have noticed before that I am not particularly good at swallowing insults.”
”I wonder if there was a cause for it,” she said, looking at him steadily. ”Remember, I know what your riding is like.”
He raised his eyebrows for a moment, then laughed. The room they entered was empty.
”No one down yet!” he observed. ”Take a seat by the window. What will you have?”
He attended to her wants and his own, and finally sat down facing her. He seemed to be in excellent spirits.
”Please don't look so severe!” he urged. ”Just as I am going to ask a favour of you, too!”
She smiled a little but not very willingly. ”I don't like cruel people,”
she said. ”Cruelty is a thing I can never forget because I abhor it so.”
”And are you never cruel?” said Nap.
”I hope not.”
”I hope not, too,” he rejoined, giving her a hard look. ”But I sometimes have my doubts.”
Anne looked out of the window in silence.
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