'Then you remember the strawberries and cream?' said Lord Cadurcis.
'And other circumstances less agreeable,' he fancied Venetia observed, but her voice was low.
'Do you know, Lady Annabel,' said Lord Cadurcis, 'that I was very nearly riding my pony to-day? I wish to bring back old times with the utmost possible completeness; I wish for a moment to believe that I have never quitted Cherbury.'
'Let us think only of the present now,' said Lady Annabel in a cheerful voice, 'for it is very agreeable. I see the good Doctor; he has discovered us.'
'I wonder whom he fancies Lord Cadurcis to be?' said Venetia.
'Have you no occasional cavalier for whom at a distance I may be mistaken?' inquired his lordship in a tone of affected carelessness, though in truth it was an inquiry that he made not without anxiety.
'Everything remains here exactly as you left it,' replied Lady
Annabel, with some quickness, yet in a lively tone.
'Happy Cherbury!' exclaimed Lord Cadurcis. 'May it indeed never change!'
They rode briskly on; the Doctor was standing at his gate. He saluted Lady Annabel and Venetia with his accustomed cordiality, and then stared at their companion as if waiting for an introduction.
'You forget an old friend, my dear Doctor,' said Cadurcis.