23
Maxwell Is Surprised
“You’ve waited for me!” she said, without any attempt at greeting us separately. “To pour out tea for us? Yes,” Perceval answered her, but she paid no attention, looking past me at either Maxwell or Maundeville who followed.
Maundeville, who entered last, ejaculated her name and went forward to her, but she barely noticed him.
“I’m late, I know,” she said, “but you’ve waited. I’ve been here ten minutes.” “Ten minutes!” Maundeville echoed. “You should have come in at once.” “Your man said you were engaged.”
“So we were—but not for you,” Maundeville said. “You had a right to be there. But I never heard you.”
“You have dealt,” she decided, looking from one to the other of us. Then there was an appreciable interval before she spoke again, her voice quite unrecogni
