"Fiddlesticks!" she said.
And Hermann was inclined to agree with her.
This view of the case found confirmation next day, for Michael, after
his music lesson, lingered so firmly and determinedly when the three
chatted together over the fire that in the end Hermann found nothing
to do but to leave them together. Sylvia had given him no sign as to
whether she wished him to absent himself or not, and he concluded,
since she did not put an end to things by going away herself, that she
intended Michael to have his say.
The latter rose as the door closed behind Hermann, and came and stood
in front of her. And at the moment Sylvia could notice nothing of him
except his heaviness, his plainness, all the things that she had told
herself before did not really matter. Now her sensation contradicted
that; she was conscious that the ash somehow had vastly accumulated
over her fire, that all her affection and regard for him were suddenly
eclipsed. This was a complete surprise to her; for the moment she found
Michael's presence and his proximity to her simply distasteful.
"I thought Hermann was never going," he said.
For a second or two she did not reply; it was clearly no use to continue
the ordinary banter of conversation, to suggest that as the room was
Hermann's he might conceivably be conceded the right to stop there if he
chose.
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