He stood for a moment, admiring
her; not as a beauty, but a healthy comely young woman, stout-hearted,
and with humanity and a sense of fun in her. And, as he looked, his true
feeling about the situation suddenly burst through all restraint and
leapt from his lips. "Though, for my part, under the circumstances, if I
were you, I'd see old Irechester damned before I accepted the
partnership!"
She turned to him--startled, yet suddenly smiling. He took her hand and
raised it to his lips.
"Hush! Not another word! Good-bye, my dear Mary!"
The next day, as Mary, her morning round finished, sat at lunch with
Cynthia, listening, or not listening, to her friend's excusably,
eager chatter about her approaching wedding, a note was delivered
into her hands:
The C.M.'s are in a hurry! She's back! The window is boarded up again!
Come and see! About 4 o'clock this afternoon. B.
Mary kept the appointment. She found Beaumaroy strolling up and down on
the road in front of the cottage. The Tower window was boarded up again,
but with new strong planks, in a much more solid and workmanlike fashion.
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