Bevis said nothing, though he might have added that it was not pleasant to have your civility acknowledged only with a stare. There was a curious stubborn look on the lad's dark face, such as the girls had noticed there on that first afternoon when they had been obliged to put off their appointment with him in the tool-shed. He turned abruptly into the stackyard when they reached the farm, and though, afterwards, they hunted about for him to say good-bye, they could not find him anywhere.
CHAPTER XIV
Nicky Nan Night
Immediately after the lesson, on the next French day, Gwen Williams sauntered in the direction of the Ramsays.
"Do you go out for walks with that Penruddock boy from Grimbal's Farm?" she asked rather insolently.
"Do you mean Bevis Hunter?" Mavis's voice was iced politeness.
"Yes. I told Mother, and she was surprised! Does your uncle know?"
Merle was on the point of bursting out, "It's not your business!" but her more discreet sister gave her a hasty poke.
"It was Uncle David who sent us out with Bevis," answered Mavis with stately dignity. "He thinks very highly of him, and so do we. I've never met anybody who knows so much about natural history, or who can tell us more about excavations and prehistoric mounds and things. He was curator of the school museum when he was at Shelton College."
Gwen gazed at Mavis as if she were speaking an unknown language.