Then he said he would go to the stable and look at the horses; and he asked her to get her bonnet and come with him.
She ran up stairs, calling Pina to follow her. And while she was putting on her thick shoes and her bonnet and mantle, she gave the girl particular directions about the dinner. For as Mr. Lyon had so short a time to stay, Drusilla did not wish to leave him long enough to pay a visit to the kitchen.
Then she went down stairs and joined her husband. And they walked together to the stable.
Everything there was found in a satisfactory condition and the horses were in fine order. Evidently Leo had done his duty, as well as, or better than, so young a groom could be expected to do it.
Then Drusilla invited Alexander to walk through the ground, that she might show him the new garden she had laid out. And, as before, he expressed delight in all he saw, and approbation of her skill as a landscape gardener.
“You take so much pains to beautify this place, and find so much pleasure in the task, that I hope you will be very happy here, little Drusa,” he said, as they turned to go back to the house.
“I shall be very happy here, or anywhere else, dear Alick, when you have got through that troublesome business and can come and stay at home with me,” she replied.
He shrugged his shoulders, but made no answer. She did not see his questionable gesture, so she continued:
“For indeed, Alick, you and I live now more like mere acquaintances than like a married couple. And you seem less the master of the house than the occasional guest of the mistress.”
He laughed at this conceit, and then sighed as he replied: