Love Among The Chickens

I spun round. Mr. Tom Chase was standing at the end of the path. The only word that could deal adequately with the situation slapped against my front teeth. I grinned a sickly grin.

"Well, Tom," said Phyllis.

And there was, I thought, just the faintest tinkle of annoyance in her voice.

* * * * *

"I've been bathing," said Mr. Chase, a propos des bottes.

"Oh," I replied. "And I wish," I added, "that you'd drowned yourself."

But I added it silently to myself.