The men played a four-handed game. Between the shots Selina talked to
Brooks.
"Were you surprised?" she asked. "Had you heard?"
"Not a word. I was astonished," he answered.
"You hadn't seen it in the papers either? Most of them mentioned it—in the county notes."
"I so seldom read the newspapers," he said. "You like it, of course?"
Selina was bereft of words.
"How we ever existed in that hateful suburb," she whispered under her breath. "And the people round here too are so sociable. Papa being a member makes a difference, of course. Then the barracks—isn't it delightful having them so close? There is always something going on. A cricket match to-morrow, I believe. Louise and I are going to play. Mrs. Malevey—she's the Colonel's wife, you know persuaded us into it."
"And your mother?" Brooks asked a minute or two later.
Selina tossed her head.
"Mother is so foolish," she declared. "She misses the sound of the trains, and she actually calls the place dead alive, because she can't sit at the windows and see the tradesmen's carts and her neighbours go by. Isn't it ridiculous?"