“I have the honor to be Mrs. Payton’s landlord,” he continued, “and she wrote to me respecting a bay window she wished to add to the drawing-room.”
Again she glanced at him with the kindliest smile.
“And I hope, Mr. Eyrle,” she said, “you are going to be good-natured and let her have it. When one looks at nothing but trees and flowers it is hardly possible to have enough of them.”
“Mrs. Payton may alter every window in the house if she chooses,” he said, earnestly. “I have but one hope, and that is that she will make the Dower House comfortable for herself.”
“That is kind, for the chances are that she will never leave it,” said Miss Hansen, with a deep-drawn sigh, and then there fell upon them a most uncomfortable silence. Mr. Eyrle was the first to break it.
“Is Mrs. Payton an invalid?” he asked.
“No; oh, no! I do not know that she has ever had a day’s ill-health.”
“Then, if she pleases, I will see her,” he continued, and Miss Hansen looked at him quite aghast.
“See Mrs. Payton?” she repeated. “She never sees any one, Mr. Eyrle. I live with her to save her from that kind of thing. If you are going to be very kind over the windows, could you not transact the business with me?”
But a sudden determination had come over Mr. Eyrle. He would see the mysterious tenant who cared for nothing but trees and flowers. He looked at Miss Hansen with a good-natured smile.