"I had to come with the eggs. We supply Mrs. Richards with eggs. And it
seemed unneighbourly to go away without seeing your lordship," she said.
She looked at him with wonderful dark eyes that met his own with
unreserved directness. He told himself as he shook hands that this girl
was a great beauty and would be a magnificent woman some day.
"I am pleased to see you," he said, with quiet courtesy. "It was kind of
you to look me up. Will you come into the garden?"
"I haven't much time to spare," said Molly. "It's my cake morning. You
are coming round to the Vicarage, aren't you? Can't we walk together?"
"Certainly," he replied at once, "if you think I shall not be too early a
visitor."
Molly's lips parted in a little smile. "We begin our day at six," she
said.
"What energy!" he commented. "I am only energetic when I am on a
holiday."
"You're on business now, then?" queried Molly.
He looked at her keenly as they passed out upon the sunlit road. "I think
you know what my business is," he said.
She did not respond. "I'll take you through the fields," she said. "It's
a short cut. Don't you want to smoke?"
There was something in her manner that struck him as not altogether
natural. He pondered over it as he lighted a cigarette.
"They are cutting the grass in the church fields," said Molly. "Don't you
hear?"
Through the slumberous summer air came the whir of the machine.
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