His cousin took his arm as they walked off and pressed it.
"Everard, I congratulate you," she said. "You have conquered your nerve absolutely. You did a simple and a fine thing to tell the whole story. Why, you were almost matter-of-fact. I could even have imagined you were telling it about some one else."
Her host smiled enigmatically.
"Curious that it should have struck you like that," he remarked. "Do you know, when I was telling it I had the same feeling.--Do you mind crouching down a little now? I am going to blow the whistle."