“Why, because you are young and a girl,” he replied. “It’s natural to be cheerful, isn’t it?”
“Is it?” she answered listlessly. “I cannot tell. I have not had much experience.”
“How old are you?” he asked bluntly.
This time it certainly seemed as though her reply would contain some rebuke for his curiosity. She glanced once more into his face, however, and the instinctive desire to administer that well-deserved snub passed away. He was so obviously interested, his question was asked so naturally, that its spice of impertinence was as though it had not existed.
“I am twenty-one,” she told him.
“And how long have you lived here?”
“Since I left boarding-school, four years ago.”
“Anywhere near where I am going to bury myself for a time, I wonder?” he went on.
“That depends,” she replied. “Our only neighbours are the Lorneybrookes of Market Burnham. Are you going there?”
He shook his head.