And that is her idea of the ordinary man."

Mr. Korner's sluggishness of comprehension irritated Miss Greene. She
leaned across the table and shook him. "Don't you understand? You
have done it on purpose to teach her a lesson. It is she who has got
to ask you to forgive her."

"You think--?"

"I think, if you manage it properly, it will be the best day's work
you have ever done. Get out of the house before she wakes. I shall
say nothing to her. Indeed, I shall not have the time; I must catch
the ten o'clock from Paddington. When you come home this evening, you
talk first; that's what you've got to do." And Mr. Korner, in his
excitement, kissed the bosom friend before he knew what he had done.

Mrs. Korner sat waiting for her husband that evening in the
drawing-room. She was dressed as for a journey, and about the corners
of her mouth were lines familiar to Christopher, the sight of which
sent his heart into his boots. Fortunately, he recovered himself in
time to greet her with a smile. It was not the smile he had been
rehearsing half the day, but that it was a smile of any sort
astonished the words away from Mrs. Korner's lips, and gave him the
inestimable advantage of first speech.

"Well," said Mr. Korner cheerily, "and how did you like it?"

For the moment Mrs. Korner feared her husband's new complaint had
already reached the chronic stage, but his still smiling face
reassured her--to that extent at all events.