Читать книгу The Dawn of Reckoning - James Hilton - Страница 17

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Mrs. Monsell "ragged" her a good deal (as she ragged everybody) but Stella did not mind, particularly as the witticisms were often too subtle for her to understand. "Is it a choke?" she used to say, interrogatively. And when somebody nodded, she would reply, tranquilly: "Ah, yes, I thought it was a choke."

Many a calm hour during the University vacations she used to squat down on the hearth-rug in the library with her head propped up comfortably against Philip's legs, while he treated her to learned talks about English history, politics, and literature. Not always were these talks enthrallingly interesting, and sometimes Mrs. Monsell used to say, in her pert mocking manner: "My dear Philip, I'm sure you must bore that girl dreadfully." But if Stella were present she always took up the defence. "Sometimes Philip is most dreadfully boring," she admitted once, "but he is so nice to be bored by."

Outsiders, seeing the extent to which the two were together, gave many warnings and much advice. "She really is extraordinarily pretty," said the wife of the vicar of Chassingford. "But aren't you afraid that Philip will fall madly in love with her?"

To which Mrs. Monsell replied characteristically "My dear, I assure you I should be perfectly delighted if Philip ever did anything half so sensible."