Page:My Dear Cornelia (1924).pdf/198

 "Of course," said Oliver, "of course. But what is it?"

"Before I state it," I said, "may I, since I am on the defensive, take a minute to rebut your fallacies and to present, as you and Willys have done, my more intimate personal feeling and private point of view?"

"Oh, yes," murmured Willys, rather sleepily, "that will be very proper."

"It will be good for you, Willys," I said. "I shall not hurt you more than is necessary. And I shall not be half so tedious as I might be if I were not leaving town on the 2.37. Relief is in sight; my taxi will be here at one."

"At one?" said Cornelia. "The children promised to be home by one, or earlier. Oliver, couldn't you all—"

"Why certainly," Oliver said. "Send away your taxi, Professor. When the Infant comes in with the car, we'll drive you to the station, and then I'll take Willys to his hostelry. But go ahead now, Professor, with your personal narrative of the great drouth in the Mojave Desert."

"It's the first forty years without water that's hardest," I said. "After that, one gets on nicely. Do you know that, far from being keen for this