Lady Anne Garland was sitting by a rosewood writing-desk in her morning-room. She had finished her letters, and was now sitting idle, gazing through the window on to the terrace, and away to the distant woods and hills, which lay blue in the sunlight.
She was dreaming rather than thinking, and a pleasant little dream it would seem, by the half smile in her grey eyes. The sunshine lay along the floor in a broad, vivid patch. It fell across her white dress and on her dark hair, which held the blue-black sheen of a rook’s plumage. Her skin was creamy-white, and her mouth, modelled like the mouth of a Greek statue, was of geranium red. In fine, Lady Anne was beautiful.
The sound of the door opening made her turn her head. A small thin woman entered. She [Pg 95]was dressed in a tailor-made dress of some pepper-and-salt material, and wore a black straw hat, rather , and distinctly out of keeping with her otherwise tailor-made appearance. Her hair was grey, and her skin somewhat like parchment, but her eyes and mouth were .
“Finished your letters?” she asked.
“Yes,” said Anne, getting up from her desk. “Come into the garden. It is too lovely a day to waste indoors.”
She led the way through the French window on to the terrace, and sat down on one of two deck-chairs. Miss Haldane followed her example.
“You should have a hat,” she said .
“No,” replied Anne lazily, “I like the sun. I think my skin is too thick to burn. Look at the blueness on those woods and hills; isn’t it glorious?”
Miss Haldane put up her eyeglasses and looked at the landscape.
“Very nice, my dear. Jabez said the hay harvest was unusually good this year.”
Jabez was the head gardener.
Anne laughed softly. “You are so practical, Matty dear. If the sun shines [Pg 96]you think of the crops, if the rain falls you think of the crops, if the wind blows you still think of the crops. You missed your when you took up the post of companion to a dreamer; you should have been a farmer.”
“Had the good Lord made me a man, I should have been one,” replied Miss Haldane instantly. “As it is, I take an interest in the farming of your . And you must allow that weather is of the first importance to them.” She dropped her eyeglasses and looked at Anne.
“I know,” owned Anne; “but do not appeal to me. I love my flowers to have their needs supplied, however; and that shows that I am selfish enough to be merely interested in what interests me.”
There was a pause.
“The cottage in the copse has found an inhabitant,” said Miss Haldane suddenly and abruptly. “I can’t call him a because the man pays no rent. I suppose no one knows to whom the rent would be due.”
“Really!” exclaimed Anne, replying to the first part of Miss Haldane’s speech. “Who has been bold enough to venture there?”
“A vagabond of sorts, I believe,” said Miss Haldane. “Of course, the villagers are looking upon him with suspicion and distrust. He wears a peacock feather in his hat and plays the penny whistle.”
“How pleasant!” said Anne.
Miss Haldane snorted. “Can’t you have him turned out?” she demanded. “I don’t think it is a good plan to have a vagabond settling in the village.”
“The cottage is not mine,” replied Anne; “as far as I know, it is no man’s property. Besides, does he do any harm—poach, or anything like that?”
“Not that I know of,” returned Miss Haldane. “In fact, they say he buys, and pays for, certain provisions at the village shop.”
“Then,” said Anne lazily, “he is not a vagabond. A vagabond is one without visible means of subsistence; this man evidently has visible means. I wonder what he is like. I fancied no man would have braved that cottage after nightfall even if he had ventured within at daylight. At all events, has been very around it.”
“They say he plays the penny whistle beautifully,” remarked Miss Haldane.
Anne’s eyes twinkled. “You have much information since our arrival last night, Matty dear. The man shall come and give us a concert.”
“My dear!”
“Why not?” asked Anne carelessly. “An unstudied simple concert on the penny whistle would, I am ............