"I am glad," he said, meekly, "that you are beginning to appreciate me."
"As a caddie," she remarked, "you are not, I must confess, wholly perfect. For instance, your attention should be entirely devoted to the person whose clubs you are carrying, instead of which you talk to me and watch Mrs. Handsell."
He was almost taken aback. For a pretty girl she was really not so much of a fool as he had thought her.
"I deny it in toto!" he declared.
"Ah, but I know you," she answered. "You are a politician, and you would deny anything. Don't you think her very handsome?"
Borrowdean gravely considered the matter, which was in itself a somewhat humorous thing. Slim and erect, with a long, graceful neck, and a carriage of the head which somehow suggested the environment of a court, Mrs. Handsell was distinctly, even from a distance, a pleasant person to look upon. He nodded approvingly.
"Yes, she is good-looking," he admitted. "Is she a neighbour of yours?"
"She has taken a house within a hundred yards of ours," Clara Mannering answered. "We all think that she is delightful."
"Is she a widow?" Borrowdean asked.
"I imagine so," she answered. "I have never heard her speak of her husband. She has beautiful dresses and things. I should think she must be very rich. Stand quite still, please. I must take great pains over this stroke."