Naked, Mrs. Flushing would be superb. Dressed as
she dresses, it's absurd, of course."
"Yes," said Hirst. A shade of depression crossed his face. "I've never
weighed more than ten stone in my life," he said, "which is ridiculous,
considering my height, and I've actually gone down in weight since we
came here. I daresay that accounts for the rheumatism." Again he jerked
his wrist back sharply, so that Helen might hear the grinding of the
chalk stones. She could not help smiling.
"It's no laughing matter for me, I assure you," he protested. "My
mother's a chronic invalid, and I'm always expecting to be told that
I've got heart disease myself. Rheumatism always goes to the heart in
the end."
"For goodness' sake, Hirst," Hewet protested; "one might think you were
an old cripple of eighty. If it comes to that, I had an aunt who died of
cancer myself, but I put a bold face on it--" He rose and began tilting
his chair backwards and forwards on its hind legs. "Is any one here
inclined for a walk?" he said. "There's a magnificent walk, up behind
the house. You come out on to a cliff and look right down into the sea.
The rocks are all red; you can see them through the water. The other day
I saw a sight that fairly took my breath away--about twenty jelly-fish,
semi-transparent, pink, with long streamers, floating on the top of the
waves.
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