Did you really enjoy it as much as if we had gone in the evening?”“Of course, I did. As if it made any difference!” Ursula assured him loyally and quite sincerely. For the odd thing was that Ned’s vague ineptitude, which could have been irritating in another man, was simply endearing in him. That you had to take Ned as you found him was something she had learned long ago.Still worried, however, he went on: “Well, I don’t know. I might have realized you’d be sweet enough to say so, but a lot of girls would have been mad. I mean, the afternoon isn’t supposed to be very romantic, is it...?”“Romantic? Oh, Ned, you are sweet!” In a sudden impulse to comfort his wistfulness Ursula reached for his hand and squeezed it.“Ursula, my dear!” As her own clasp loosened his fingers tightened, holding her fast. For a moment of near-panic Ursula feared that she had unwittingly brought about the thing at which Coralie had hinted—a declaration of Ned’s love for her. But out of the corner of her eye she saw the waitress approaching with their tea-tray, and when it was dumped on the table beside them even Ned had to recognize that the moment of intimacy had passed.When he spoke next it was to tell her of some new experiments he was conducting, using the table silver for diagrammatic illustration and becoming completely engrossed in his subject as he went on.Ursula could have laughed aloud for sheer relief.
