"What colour is her hair?" demanded Eustace Hignett in a hollow voice.
"Her hair! What colour is it?"

"Her hair? Now, let me see. You ask me what colour is her hair. Well,
you might call it auburn ... or russet ... or you might call it Titian...."

"Never mind what you might call it. Is it red?"

"Red? Why, yes. That is a very good description of it. Now that you put
it to me like that, it _is_ red."

"Has she a trick of grabbing at you suddenly, when she gets excited,
like a kitten with a ball of wool?"

"Yes. Yes, she has."

Eustace Hignett uttered a sharp cry.

"Sam," he said, "can you bear a shock?"

"I'll have a dash at it."

"Brace up!"

"The girl you are engaged to is the same girl who promised to marry
_me_."

"Well, well!" said Sam.

There was a silence.