He had assumed the voice in which he lectured. René cut him short:
"I'd like to see Linda. Will you take me back with you."
"You needn't thrust me on her. Just ask her if she'd like to see me, and come out and tell me: yes or no. After all, if it comes to that, we're still married. I believe, by the brutal laws of the country, I could insist on seeing her whether she liked it or not. You might tell her that I have come into some money also."
"Hurrah!" cried René, "you think I'll have to live up to it and settle down."
"It would certainly be a splendid thing if----"
The Professor's whole attitude toward him was changed. Already, it was clear, he was beginning to plan a grand scene of reconciliation, a reformed René, a forgiving Linda, the Smallman family in the background, symbolical of Impregnable Matrimony. René caught the hint and his mind played with it and blew it out into a grotesque. It gave him so much pleasure that he chuckled and said:
"It won't do, you know. We couldn't come together again without a scandal."
The Professor was so intent on his own thoughts that he did not notice the savage irony of the remark. He said:
"I've got you there," observed René. "It wasn't fair though. I hadn't the slightest intention of doing any such thing."
"Why do I want to see her? I don't know. I want to. Isn't that reason enough?"
"You just ask her. Tell her I'm in Thrigsby for a few days and would like to see her. If she doesn't wish it, don't worry. I'll wait ten minutes."
"Very well," said the Professor, not altogether giving up hope, "I'll tell her, but the way you talk of it seems to me almost indecent."
He let himself in at the front door, and in ten minutes was out again.
"Very well," he said, "she will see you. . . . If you don't mind, my wife has gone up to her room."
"I wonder," thought René, "what they would make of Ann. They wouldn't mind my leaving her."
He felt rather nervous as he reached the threshold of the study, but stiffened himself for the plunge. The door opened and he found himself shaking Linda warmly by the hand and asking after her health, and explaining how he came to be in Thrigsby. Linda was noticeably plumper, rounder, and more solid. He could see no charm in her and thought her unsuitably dressed, tactlessly, provincially. On the whole, he liked her. The handshake was firm, her eyes were frank.