‘Well, you needn’t have come.’ Mariella’s voice was still cool and childish. With her little smile, she turned away from him to watch the skaters. ‘And my feet are so cold I can’t feel them,’ went on Charlie. ‘Three great gawps, that’s what we are, three great gawps.’ He looked at Mariella’s back. ‘And Mariella’s _easily_ the gawpest.’ That seemed to unburden him, for he suddenly threw off his bad temper and laughed. ‘Put on your skates, chaps,’ he said. ‘We’ll do our damndest.’ He began to whistle and sat down, struggling with his boots. ‘Judith shall show us how it’s done. She is so _extremely_ able.’ He looked at her, giving her his attention for the first time, and charmingly smiled. His eyes were amazing when they looked full at you--brilliant, icy-blue, a little too wide open. His long red girlish lips still parted a trifle in repose; and the whole head had a breath-taking extravagance of beauty. ‘How are you, Judith?’ he said. ‘Do you remember the dear old days?’ ‘Yes, I do.’ What self-possession he had! She was not up to him. He lost interest in her, and went on with his boots, fiercely whistling. ‘Do you really still live here, Judith?’ said Mariella. ‘Yes, really. Where do you live?’ ‘Well, we’re in London now. Grannie moved there to be near my school. Where do you go to school?’ ‘I don’t. I have classes by myself with a man who coaches boys for Oxford and Cambridge. He’s a vicar. And then I have music lessons from a person who comes from London, and Daddy teaches me Greek and Latin. My Mother and Father don’t believe in girl’s schools.’ That sounded rude and priggish. She blushed and added. ‘But I do. It’s awfully dull by myself.’ ‘Why don’t you get your Mother to send you to my school?’ said Mariella. ‘It’s ripping fun. You could come up to London every day.’ ‘Mariella _loves_ her school,’ said Julian. ‘It’s _topping_. She doesn’t learn _anything_ and plays hockey _all_ day. Judith’s parents want her to be _educated_, Mariella. You don’t understand. Isn’t that so, Judith?’ Judith blushed again and was afraid it was so. ‘I believe in female education,’ muttered Julian to his boots. They had become extremely queer creatures as they grew up, thought Judith. The boys especially were very peculiar, with their height and pallor and their trick of over-emphatic speech. Julian was immensely tall and cadaverous, with a stormy, untidy, hideous face, and eloquent eyes that seemed always to be changing colour in their deep sockets. He actually had lines in his cheeks, and his nose was becoming hooked, with dilated, back-sweeping nostrils. ‘Well, I wish you’d come,’ said Mariella unruffled, after a silence. ‘It’s ripping. You’d love it.’ It was nice of Mariella to be so friendly and pressing. Perhaps she had always been very fond of you, had missed you.... Judith’s heart warmed. ‘I wish _you’d_ come back and live here, Mariella. It was so lovely when you did.’