"After all," she interrupted, "I think I had better read."
"Please don't!" he begged, "I promise to talk most seriously. It is not
my fault if I forgot for a moment. You looked at me, you know, and we
are not used to eyes like that in England."
"You are either very silly," she said, "or very impertinent. I think
that I shall send you away."
"There is no one else," he said, looking around, "to entertain you, and
I am really going to try very hard to."
"Then please reach me up those chocolates and begin," she said. "Tell me
about where you live in the country."
Mildmay, who had seven houses in different parts of the United Kingdom,
was a little at a loss, but he talked to her about one, in which, by the
by, he never lived, a gaunt grey stone building on the Northumbrian
coast, whose windows were splashed with the spray of the North Sea, but
whose gardens were famous throughout the north of England. He very soon
succeeded in interesting her. She felt something absurdly restful in the
sound of his strong, good-natured voice, with its slightly protective
intonation. They sat there until the luncheon gong rang, and then they
rose and walked for a time together.
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