It was better, on the first approach, to be wholly
unencumbered.
"How far are we from Stornham Court?" she inquired.
"Five miles, my lady," he answered, touching his cap. She expressed
something which to the rural and ingenuous, whose standards were
defined, demanded a recognition of probable rank.
"I'd like to know," was his comment to his wife when he went home to
dinner, "who has gone to Stornham Court to-day. There's few enough
visitors go there, and none such as her, for certain. She don't live
anywhere on the line above here, either, for I've never seen her face
before. She was a tall, handsome one--she was, but it isn't just that
made you look after her. She was a clever one with a spirit, I'll be
bound. I was wondering what her ladyship would have to say to her."
"Perhaps she was one of HIS fine ladies?" suggestively.
"That she wasn't, either. And, as for that, I wonder what he'd have to
say to such as she is."
There was complexity of element enough in the thing she was on her way
to do, Bettina was thinking, as she was driven over the white ribbon
of country road that unrolled over rise and hollow, between the
sheep-dotted greenness of fields and the scented hedges.
Pages:
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201