Page:The Relentless City.djvu/64

54 a gesture that somehow reminded him of a cat stretching its forelegs and unsheathing the claws of its silent, padded feet. His feeling of relief was ebbing a little.

he said.

she said.

Bertie's feeling of relief had quite gone, but his nervousness had gone also. He felt he knew the facts now.

he said:

she asked, laughing lazily.

he asked.

she said with histrionic utterance,

said he.

I know; I meant to burn it, but I couldn't. When I told you I had burnt it, I really meant to have burnt it, and so I didn't tell you a lie, because for all practical purposes it was burned. But then I found I couldn't; it was too funny for words. Really, there are so few humorous things in the world that it would be murder to destroy it.