“Oh, all right,” said North. “She is looking after the place well, and hasn’t been seized with the present mania for building billiard-rooms and winter gardens and lordly garages.”
“But what is she like?” asked Mrs. North.
“Is she a lady, or isn’t she? You can’t call on a woman because she hasn’t built a winter garden.”
“Why not?” returned her husband, in his most irritating fashion.
“By the way,” interposed Mr. Fothersley adroitly, “I hear Miss Seer intends building cottages. A thing I do not consider at all desirable.”
“Why not?” asked his host again.
“We want nothing of that sort in Mentmore,” said Fothersley decisively. “It is, in its way, the most perfect specimen of an English village in the country—I might say in England. Building new cottages is only the thin end of the wedge.”
“They appear to be wanted,” said North, pushing the cigars towards his guest.
“That is the Government’s business,” answered Mr. Fothersley, making a careful selection. “And we may at least hope they will put them up in suitable places. Thank Heaven the price of land here is prohibitive. There, however, is the danger of these newly rich people. They must spend their money somehow. However, it may not be true. I only heard it this morning.”
“Did she say anything about it, Roger?” asked Mrs. North.