Laurie shook his head. He did not understand, at all; but vague and unpleasant memories of newspaper stories about espionage and foreign spies suddenly filtered through his mind.
"It sounds an awful mess," he said frankly. "If it's got anything to do with German propaganda--"
She interrupted with a gesture of impatience.
"No, no!" she cried. "I am not a German or a propagandist, or a pacifist or a spy. That much, at least, I can tell you."
"Then that's all right!" Laurie glanced at his watch again. "If you had been a German spy," he added, "with a little round knob of hair on the back of your head and bombs in every pocket, I couldn't have had much to do with you, I really couldn't. But as you and your companions are not involved in that kind of thing, I am forced to remind you that you'll be headed toward the station in just one minute."
"I hate you!" she said between her teeth.
He shook his head at her. "Oh, no, you don't!" he said kindly. "But I see plainly that you're a self-willed young person. Association with me, and the study of my poise, will do a lot for you. By the way, you have only thirty seconds left."
"Good gracious, no!" Laurie spoke absently, his eyes on the watch. "Twenty seconds," he ended.
"Do you want to be maimed or crippled, or--or kidnapped?"
"I don't know why you imagine I have such lurid tastes," he said, discontentedly. "Of course I don't want any of those things. My nature is a quiet one, and already I'm dreading the excitement of taking you to the station. But now I must ask you to put on your gloves and button up your coat for our little journey."
"The journey you make with me," she said, with deep meaning, "may be a long and hard one."
"I wouldn't miss it for the world," he told her. "But we'll have to postpone it. Our journey to the station comes first."
"I know your type now," she said suddenly. "You live in your little groove, and you think that nothing happens in the world except what you see under your nose."
"Something awfully unpleasant is going to happen under my nose right now," announced her companion, disconsolately. "Come along, please. It's time to start."
She stood up, faced him for a second, and then dropped back into her chair with a gesture of finality. Her expression had changed back to the lethargy of her first moments in the restaurant.