"You look very comfortable!" said Helen's voice above them.
"Hirst," said Hewet, pointing at the scissorlike shadow; he then rolled
round to look up at them.
"There's room for us all here," he said.
When Hirst had seated himself comfortably, he said:
"Did you congratulate the young couple?"
It appeared that, coming to the same spot a few minutes after Hewet and
Rachel, Helen and Hirst had seen precisely the same thing.
"No, we didn't congratulate them," said Hewet. "They seemed very happy."
"Well," said Hirst, pursing up his lips, "so long as I needn't marry
either of them--"
"We were very much moved," said Hewet.
"I thought you would be," said Hirst. "Which was it, Monk? The thought
of the immortal passions, or the thought of new-born males to keep the
Roman Catholics out? I assure you," he said to Helen, "he's capable of
being moved by either."
Rachel was a good deal stung by his banter, which she felt to be
directed equally against them both, but she could think of no repartee.
"Nothing moves Hirst," Hewet laughed; he did not seem to be stung at
all. "Unless it were a transfinite number falling in love with a finite
one--I suppose such things do happen, even in mathematics."
"On the contrary," said Hirst with a touch of annoyance, "I consider
myself a person of very strong passions." It was clear from the way he
spoke that he meant it seriously; he spoke of course for the benefit of
the ladies.
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