Without a smile, they set to work at their reading.

They read for an hour or more, maintaining the utmost gravity, when, as luck would have it, the word "friendship" occurred in a passage of the book.

Claudius paused a moment, his broad hand laid flat on the open page.
"That is one of the most interesting and one of the most singularly misunderstood words in all languages," he said.
"What word ?" inquired Margaret, looking up from her work, to which she had attentively applied herself while he was reading.
"Friendship." "Will you please define what it means ?" said she.
"I can define what I myself mean by it, or rather what I think I mean by it.

I can define what a dozen writers have meant by it.

But I cannot tell what it really means, still less what it may ultimately come to mean." "You will probably be best able to explain what you mean by it yourself," answered Margaret rather coldly.