"
"Sure they weren't mermaids?" said Hirst. "It's much too hot to climb
uphill." He looked at Helen, who showed no signs of moving.
"Yes, it's too hot," Helen decided.
There was a short silence.
"I'd like to come," said Rachel.
"But she might have said that anyhow," Helen thought to herself as Hewet
and Rachel went away together, and Helen was left alone with St. John,
to St. John's obvious satisfaction.
He may have been satisfied, but his usual difficulty in deciding that
one subject was more deserving of notice than another prevented him from
speaking for some time. He sat staring intently at the head of a dead
match, while Helen considered--so it seemed from the expression of her
eyes--something not closely connected with the present moment.
At last St. John exclaimed, "Damn! Damn everything! Damn everybody!" he
added. "At Cambridge there are people to talk to."
"At Cambridge there are people to talk to," Helen echoed him,
rhythmically and absent-mindedly. Then she woke up. "By the way, have
you settled what you're going to do--is it to be Cambridge or the Bar?"
He pursed his lips, but made no immediate answer, for Helen was still
slightly inattentive. She had been thinking about Rachel and which of
the two young men she was likely to fall in love with, and now sitting
opposite to Hirst she thought, "He's ugly.
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