“She made out as her son had given it to me.”
“And she was wrong?”—smiling. “It was the other fellow?”
“Well, yes, if I’m a fellow, for I gave it to myself.”
“And the lady’s son—was he one of the crowd you——?”
“What does my father do with all the game?” she interrupted brusquely.
“I’m sure I’ve no idea. He has the best coverts in the county, and that’s enough for me. What an odd girl you are!” he said suddenly. “Don’t you feel it yourself?”
“I feel I am the odd one out at present. And you are a queer sort of man.”
“I—queer? In what way?” he asked, with a touch of hauteur in his tone.
“Oh, rambling about the world, looking for something to kill, same as a boy birds-nesting, and not doing a hand’s turn, good or bad.”
“Ah, I declare you are a young reformer”—colouring angrily. “And you must know such a jolly lot about the world, and men of the world—don’t you?” he added ironically.