"For what?" she asked, raising her brows.

"For--why, I'm sure I don't know," he said. "I don't know why I said
that. ... Will you take some letters, please?"

He began dictating slowly, laboriously. It was a new work to him, and
he went about it clumsily, stopping long between words to arrange his
thoughts. His attention strayed. He leaned back in his chair,
dictation forgotten for the moment, staring at Ruth Frazer without
really being conscious of her presence. She waited patiently.
Presently he leaned forward and addressed a question to her:

"Did you and Mr. Dulac mention me as you walked home?"

"Yes," she said.

"Would it be--impertinent," he asked, "to inquire what you said?"

She wrinkled her brows to aid recollection.

"Mr. Dulac," she replied, "wondered what you were up to. That was how
he expressed it. He thought it was peculiar--your asking to know
him."

"What did YOU think?"

"I didn't think it was peculiar at all. You"--she hesitated--"had
been taken sort of by surprise. Yes, that was it. And you wanted to
KNOW. I think you acted very naturally."