'
And, completely restored to good humour by her own eloquence,
Elizabeth burst out laughing. It was a trait in her character
which she had often lamented, that she could not succeed in
keeping angry with anyone for more than a few minutes on end.
Sooner or later some happy selection of a phrase of abuse would
tickle her sense of humour, or the appearance of her victim would
become too funny not to be laughed at. On the present occasion it
was the ridiculous spectacle of Nutty cowering beneath the
bedclothes that caused her wrath to evaporate. She made a weak
attempt to recover it. She glared at Nutty, who at the sound of
her laughter had emerged from under the clothes like a worm after
a thunderstorm.
'I mean it,' she said. 'It really is too bad of you! You might
have had some sense and a little consideration. Ask yourself if we
are in a position here to entertain visitors. Well, I'm going to
make myself very unpopular with this Mr Chalmers of yours. By this
evening he will be regarding me with utter loathing, for I am
about to persecute him.'
'What do you mean?' asked Nutty, alarmed.
'I am going to begin by asking him to help me open one of the
hives.'
'For goodness' sake!'
'After that I shall--with his assistance--transfer some honey. And
after that--well, I don't suppose he will be alive by then.
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