"So would I," he said. Then, leading the talk away from anything so intimate to him, "Ah, that delicious stretch of water-meadow!" he said. "There is no green so vivid and delicate as that of English fields. And hark to the cool thunder of the weir."
A far-away rapture illumined his stout face, and Mrs. Murchison, who had made a speciality of Nature, struck in:
"There is a solidarity about English landscape which I do not find in our country," she said. "Like Mr. Alington, I could listen to that weir till I became an octogeranium. 'Peace with plenty,' as Lord Beaconsfield used to say. I was down at Goring yesterday with dear Lily, and we sat on the lawn till midnight, or it might have been later, and I had a long discussion with Jack Conybeare about the duties of the London County Council. Most rural and refreshing it was! Ah, dear me!"
Mrs. Murchison sighed, not because she was sad, but because her feelings outstripped her power of expression.
"So green and beautiful!" she murmured, as a sort of summary.
Lady Haslemere put up her parasol, extinguishing the view for miles round.
"Mr. Alington, do give me a hint as to what to go for next week. Will there be a rise in South Africans, do you think?"
The rapture died from Mr. Alington's face, but it gave place to a purely benignant expression. He shook his head gently.
"I cannot say," he answered. "I have followed nothing during these last weeks except the fortunes of Carmel. But any broker will advise you, Lady Haslemere."
Mrs. Murchison's house stood high on the broad-backed down, to the south of the town, and up at this height there was a wonderful freshness in the air, and the heat was without the oppressiveness of London. A vast stretch of rolling country spread out on every side, and line upon line of hills followed each other like great waves into the big distance. Though the drought had been so severe, the reservoirs of the sub-lying chalk had kept the short, flower-starred grass still green, and the long-continued heat had not filched from it its exquisite and restful colour.