Page:Barbour--Peggy in the rain.djvu/62

 entered, kissed him, patted his hand then viewed him critically.

"You've lost flesh," she pronounced. "Don't get much thinner, Gordon; it isn't becoming. It was so with your father. He tried never to get below a hundred and sixty. You've come home to quite the worst weather of the spring."

"One always does. You're looking very fit, Mums."

She allowed the appellation to pass unchallenged, a sign of extreme amiability.

"I have had a very good month," she replied in a manner that seemed to imply that such a satisfactory result had been attained only by the wisest and most careful management on her part; an implication open to doubt, since Mrs. Ames' health was always good. "I've always thought," she went on, "that if folks would stay sensibly at home and not go flitting around the globe they'd be a lot better off. We're becoming a nation of gadders, Gordon."

"Anything new?" he asked.

"Nothing of interest to you, I think," she replied reflectively. "I believe Mr. Lovering is anxious to see you."