And her liking for Sir Richmond was
pleasingly manifest. She liked his turn of thought, she watched him
with a faint smile on her lips as he spoke, and she spread her opinions
before him carefully in that soft voice of hers like a shy child showing
its treasures to some suddenly trusted and favoured visitor.
Their ways of thought harmonized. They talked at first chiefly about the
history of the world and the extraordinary situation of aimlessness in a
phase of ruin to which the Great War had brought all Europe, if not all
mankind. The world excited them both in the same way; as a crisis in
which they were called upon to do something--they did not yet clearly
know what. Into this topic they peered as into some deep pool, side by
side, and in it they saw each other reflected.
The visit to Avebury had been a great success. It had been a
perfect springtime day, and the little inn had been delighted at the
reappearance of Sir Richmond's car so soon after its departure. Its
delight was particularly manifest in the cream and salad it produced
for lunch. Both Miss Grammont and Miss Seyffert displayed an intelligent
interest in their food. After lunch they had all gone out to the stones
and the wall. Half a dozen sunburnt children were putting one of the
partially overturned megaliths to a happy use by clambering to the top
of it and sliding on their little behinds down its smooth and sloping
side amidst much mirthful squealing.
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