The journey itself was much
shorter than this interval. Knowing her varied interests, he felt sure
that these journals would pretty well cover the ground, but he was
rather surprised, as he took the seat opposite her, to see that she read
first, in fact instantly started, with apparent interest, on _The London
Mail_. With a quick glance he saw that she was enjoying 'What Everybody
Wants to Know'--'Why the Earl of Blank looked so surprised when he met
the pretty little blonde lady who had been said to be the friend of his
wife walking in Bond Street with a certain dark gentleman who until now
he had always understood to be her _bete noire_,' and so forth.
As an example to her he took up _The New Statist_ and read a serious
article.
When they arrived it was fine and sunny, and they looked at once for a
boat.
It had not occurred to him before that there would be any difficulty in
getting one. He imagined a smart new boat all ready for him, with fresh,
gay cushions, and everything complete and suitable to himself and his
companion. He was rather irritated when he found instead that the best
they could do for him was to give him a broken-down, battered-looking
thing like an old chest, which was to be charged rather heavily for the
time they meant to spend on the river.
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