but a freezing-up. Like the Nortons', Judy. Do you remember how they avoided each other's eyes, and never laughed, nor even smiled? Their very faces became frozen. It was terrible."
"It would take a considerable frost to freeze Eric," Judy remarked with a laugh.
"Fortunately," assented her grandmother. "What I most admire about him is that he's always ready to discuss peace. He's always hoping for signs of friendliness from the enemy."
"She treats him like a red-headed stepson," Noel said indignantly. "If he'd only begun by beating her now and then"
Madame Claire felt bound to make out a case for her daughter-in-law.
"She married the wrong man—for her—that's all," she said.
When Noel and Judy had gone, Madame Claire sat thinking about Eric and his unfortunate marriage. He was, as she had called him in her letter, dynamic. He was as impulsive and full of the love of life as his wife was joyless and cold. His chief charm lay in his perfectly sincere interest in everything and everybody. His mind was as elastic as his muscles, which were famous at Oxford, and while his wife found most things
