The Little Warrior - Penn State University

“It’s a shame that you had all the trouble. You can
get messenger-boys to go anywhere and do anything
nowadays. Derek ought to have thought of that.”
Freddie looked at her doubtfully.
“You’re spoofing, aren’t you? I mean to say, you
wouldn’t have liked that!”
“I shouldn’t have disliked it any more than his sending
you.”
“Oh, but I wanted to pop over. Keen to see America
and so forth.”
Jill looked past him at the gloomy stage. Her face
was set, and her eyes sombre.
“Can’t you understand, Freddie? You’ve known me
a long time. I should have thought that you would have
found out by now that I have a certain amount of pride.
If Derek wanted me back, there was only one thing for
him to do—come over and find me himself.”
“Rummy! That’s what Mason said, when I told him.
You two don’t realize how dashed busy Derek is these
days.”
“Busy!”
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Something in her face seemed to tell Freddie that he
was not saying the right thing, but he stumbled on.
“You’ve no notion how busy he is. I mean to say,
elections coming on and so forth. He daren’t stir from
the metrop.”
“Of course I couldn’t expect him to do anything that
might interfere with his career, could I?”
“Absolutely not. I knew you would see it!” said
Freddie, charmed at her reasonableness. All rot, what
you read about women being unreasonable. “Then I
take it it’s all right, eh?”
“All right?”
“I mean you will toddle home with me at the earliest
opp. and make poor old Derek happy?”
Jill laughed discordantly.
“Poor old Derek!” she echoed. “He has been badly
treated, hasn’t he?”
“Well, I wouldn’t say that,” said Freddie doubtfully.
“You see, coming down to it, the thing was more or
less his fault, what?”
“More or less!”