"Oh!" he said shortly. "Miss Vanderpoel! Beg pardon."
Bettina stood still a second. She had her surprise also. Here was the
unexpected again. The under keeper was the red-haired second-class
passenger of the Meridiana.
He did not look pleased to see her, and the suddenness of his appearance
excluded the possibility of her realising that upon the whole she was at
least not displeased to see him.
"How do you do?" she said, feeling the remark fantastically
conventional, but not being inspired by any alternative. "I came to tell
you that one of the stags has got through a gap in the fence."
"Damn!" she heard him say under his breath. Aloud he said, "Thank you."
"He is a splendid creature," she said. "I did not know what to do. I was
glad to see a keeper coming."
"Thank you," he said again, and strode towards the place where the
stag still stood gazing up the road, as if reflecting as to whether it
allured him or not.
Betty walked back more slowly, watching him with interest. She wondered
what he would find it necessary to do. She heard him begin a low,
flute-like whistling, and then saw the antlered head turn towards him.
The woodland creature moved, but it was in his direction.
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