"Well," he said, "how did you get on in the box?"
"Oh!" she replied, "I got on very well with the Woldo woman. She's one
of our sort. But I'm not _so_ set up with your Elsie April."
"Dash this collar!"
Nellie continued:
"And I can tell you another thing, I don't envy Mr. Rollo Wrissell."
"What's Wrissell got to do with it?"
"She means to marry him."
"Elsie April means to marry Wrissell?"
"He was in and out of the box all night. It was as plain as a
pikestaff."
"What's amiss with my Elsie April?" Edward Henry demanded.
"She's a thought too _pleasant_ for my taste," answered Nellie.
Astonishing, how pleasantness is regarded with suspicion in the Five
Towns, even by women who can at a pinch be angels!
VII
Often during the brief night he gazed sleepily at the vague next bed
and mused upon the extraordinariness of women's consciences. His wife
slept like an innocent. She always did. It was as though she gently
expired every evening and returned gloriously to life every morning.
The sunshiny hours between three and seven were very long to him, but
it was indisputable that he did not hear the clock strike six: which
was at any rate proof of a little sleep to the good. At five minutes
past seven he thought he heard a faint rustling noise in the corridor,
and he arose and tiptoed to the door and opened it.
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