"You seen her to the train yourself." "The hell I did!" Ford's good eye glared incredulity, but Sandy was again following hungrily the love-tangle of an unpronounceable count in the depths of the Black Forest, and he remained perfectly unconscious of the look and the mental distress which caused it.

Ford went back to studying the meager blaze and trying to remember.

He might be able to extract the whole truth from Sandy, but that would involve taking his novel away from him--by force, probably; and the loss of the book would be very likely to turn Sandy so sullen that he would refuse to answer, or to tell the truth, at any rate; and Ford's muscles were very, very sore.

He did not feel equal to a scuffle with Sandy, just then.

He repeated something which sounded like an impromptu litany and had to do with the ultimate disposal of his own soul.
"Hunh ?" asked Sandy.
Whereupon Ford, being harassed mentally and in great physical discomfort as well, specifically disposed of Sandy's immortal soul also.
Sandy merely grinned at him.