"
Lady Anstruthers tried to laugh, but did not succeed very well, and her
forehead flushed.
"I don't quite know why I seem so nervous," she said. "It's very silly
of me."
She was still timid enough to cling to some rag of pretence, but Betty
knew that it would fall away. She did the wisest possible thing, which
was to make an apparently impersonal remark.
"I want you to go over the place with me and show me everything. Walls
and fences and greenhouses and outbuildings must not be allowed to
crumble away."
"What?" cried Rosy. "Have you seen all that already?" She actually
stared at her. "How practical and--and American!"
"To see that a wall has fallen when you find yourself obliged to walk
round a pile of grass-grown brickwork?" said Betty.
Lady Anstruthers still softly stared.
"What--what are you thinking of?" she asked.
"Thinking that it is all too beautiful----" Betty's look swept the
loveliness spread about her, "too beautiful and too valuable to be
allowed to lose its value and its beauty." She turned her eyes back to
Rosy and the deep dimple near her mouth showed itself delightfully. "It
is a throwing away of capital," she added.
"Oh!" cried Lady Anstruthers, "how clever you are! And you look so
different, Betty.
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