Page:Lolly Willowes - 1926.djvu/189

 ten heard them too, and sat up, yawning. The Leaks coming back from their lecture, thought Laura. But it was Titus. Inserting his head and shoulders through the window he asked if he could come in and borrow some milk.

"I haven't any milk," said Laura, "but come in all the same."

She began to tickle the kitten behind the ears in order to reassure it. By lamplight Titus's head seemed even nearer to the ceiling, it was a relief to her sense of proportion when he sat down. His milk, he explained, the jugful which Mrs. Garland left on the sitting-room table for his nightly Ovaltine, had curdled into a sort of unholy junket. This he attributed to popular education, and the spread of science among dairy-farmers; in other words, Mr. Dodbury had overdone the preservative.

"I don't think it's science," said Laura. "More likely to be the weather. It was very sultry this afternoon."

"I saw you starting out. I had half a mind to come with you, but it was too hot to be a loving nephew. Where did you go?"

"Up to the windmill."