Stephen hesitated, but Wilhelmina waited for his reply. She had the air of one remotely interested, yet she waited obviously to hear what this young man had said.
“I think he said something about your making war upon a large scale,” Stephen explained diffidently.
She sat still for a moment. She was looking towards the deserted cricket pitch.
“Where is he staying now?” she asked.
“I do not know,” he answered. “I have warned all the likely people not to receive him, and I have told him, too, that he will only get your tenants into trouble if he tries to get lodgings here.”
“I should like,” she said, “to speak to him. Perhaps you would be so good as to ask him to step this way for a moment.”
Stephen departed, wondering. Deyes was watching his hostess with an air of covert amusement.
“Do you continue the warfare,” he asked, “or has the young man’s prowess softened your heart?”
Wilhelmina raised her parasol and looked steadily at her questioner.
“Warfare is scarcely the word, is it?” she remarked carelessly. “I have no personal objection to the young man.”