"There wasn't time." He had a small laugh for her reason; he might have expected some other.
"Does it take so much time ?" She herself, however, remained serious.

"It takes more than they had." He was detached, but he wondered.

"What was the matter with their time ?" After which, as, remembering it all, living it over and piecing it together, she only considered, "You mean that you came in with your idea ?" he demanded.
It brought her quickly to the point, and as if also in a measure to answer herself.

"Not a bit of it--THEN.

But you surely recall," she went on, "the way, a year ago, everything took place.