"Don't you fancy me as a step-mamma?" she queried. "But, joking apart, I'm afraid even Blanford would pall on me after a while. It isn't my first visit here, you see. I was on a tour through these counties three years ago."
"That's how you came to know about my father, I suppose."
"Yes," she said. "I had him pointed out to me, and you look a good deal alike. Besides, the name's not common."
"I'm glad you liked Blanford well enough to come back to it."
"Oh," she returned, looking up at him with a roguish smile, "this section of the country has other associations for me."
"I was waiting for that," he retorted. "In which of the neighbouring towns were you married?"
"The one nearest here," she replied. "I think we can just see the spire of the church over the trees. But how did you know?"
"I inferred it as a matter of course," he said banteringly, "but I'm only joking."
"But I'm not," she returned.
"Do you really mean that you were married over there?" he asked, pointing to the distant church.