How are you? And how's
everything?'
Goodness! How bright his eyes were, how alert his manner! He looked so
young, almost springy, thought Minks, as he obeyed decorously, feeling
flattered and pleased, yet at the same time uneasy a little. Such
spirits could only proceed, he feared, from one cause. He was a close
observer, as all poets had need to be. He would discover some clue
before he went to bed, something that should betray the true state of
affairs. In any case sleep would be impossible unless he did.
'You stayed away somewhat longer than you originally intended,' he
ventured at length, having briefly satisfied his employer's question.
'You found genuine recreation. You needed it, I'm sure.' He glanced
with one eye at the letters.
'Re-creation, yes; the very word. It was difficult to leave. The place
was so delightful,' said Rogers simply, filling his pipe and lighting
it. 'A wonderful mountain village, Minks,' he added, between puffs of
smoke, while the secretary, who had been waiting for the sign, then
lit his own Virginian and smoked it diffidently, and with just the
degree of respect he felt was becoming. He never presumed upon his
master's genial way of treating him. He made little puffs and was very
careful with the ashes.
'Ah, yes,' he said; 'I am sure it must have been--both delightful and
--er--difficult to leave.
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