Page:The Works of H G Wells Volume 1.pdf/199

Rh moment—"I cannot but believe you are an angel&hellip; Surely I can believe my own eyes."

"We always do ours," said the Angel.

"And so do we, within limits."

Then the clock upon the mantel chimed seven, and almost simultaneously Mrs. Hinijer announced dinner. § 18

Angel and the Vicar sat at dinner. The Vicar, with his napkin tucked in at his neck, watched the Angel struggling with his soup. "You will soon get into the way of it," said the Vicar. The knife-and-fork business was done awkwardly but with effect. The Angel looked furtively at Delia, the little waiting-maid. When presently they sat cracking nuts—which the Angel found congenial enough—and the girl had gone, the Angel asked: "Was that a lady too?"

"Well," said the Vicar (crack). "No—she is not a lady. She is a servant."

"Yes," said the Angel; "she had rather a nicer shape."

"You mustn't tell Mrs. Mendham that," said the Vicar, covertly satisfied.

"She didn't stick out so much at the shoulders and hips, and there was more of her in between. And the colour of her robes was not discordant—simply neutral. And her face"

"Mrs. Mendham and her daughters had been playing tennis," said the Vicar, feeling he ought not to 167