Neale winced at the Bayweather priggishness of this way of putting it,
but remembering his remorse for his earlier brusqueness, he restrained
himself to good humor and the admission, "Making allowance for
ministerial jargon, that's something like a fair statement."

He was astonished at the seriousness with which Mr. Welles took this.
What was it to him? The old man looked at him, deeply, unaccountably,
evidently entirely at a loss. "Mr. Crittenden," he said abruptly, "to
speak right out, that sounded to me like the notion of a nice
idealistic woman, who has never been in business. You see I've _been_ in
a business office all my life!"

Neale found his liking for the gentle, troubled old man enough for him
to say truthfully, "Mr. Welles, I don't mind talking to you about it.
Sure, yes I can understand how having a minister put it that way. . . .
Lord! How the old boy does spill over! And yet why should I care? I'm
ashamed of letting harmless Mr. Bayweather get on my nerves so."

Mr. Welles started to speak, found no words, and waved an arm as if to
imply that _he_ understood perfectly. This made Neale laugh a little,
and gave him a picture of the helplessness of a newcomer to Ashley,
before the flood-tide of Mr. Bayweather's local learning.

He went on, "He sort of taints an honest idea, doesn't he, by his
high-falutin' way of going on about it?"

He hesitated, trying to think of simple words to sum up what he had,
after all, never exactly formulated because it had been so much an
attitude he and Marise had silently grown into. It was hard, he found,
to hit on any expression that said what he wanted to; but after all, it
wasn't so very important whether he did or not. He was only trying to
make a nice tired old man think himself enough respected to be seriously
talked to. He'd just ramble on, till Marise brought the other visitors
up to them.

And yet as he talked, he got rather interested in his statement of it. A
comparison of baseball and tennis ethics came into his mind as apposite,
and quite tickled him by its aptness. Mr. Welles threw in an occasional
remark. He was no man's fool, it soon appeared, for all his mildness.
And for a time he seemed to be interested.

But presently Neale noticed that the other was looking absent and no
longer made any comments. That was what happened, Neale reflected with
an inward smile, as he slowed down and prepared to stop, when anybody
succeeded in getting you started on yo