"Good land!" said Jake again, and departed to his own room in grim amazement.
Saltash the sinner was well known to him and by no means uncongenial; but Saltash the saint, not only beloved, but reverenced and enshrined as such, as something beyond his comprehension! How on earth had he managed to achieve his sainthood?
CHAPTER IX
THE IDOL
"Well?" said Saltash with quizzical interest. "Where is she? And how is she getting on?"
It was the Sunday afternoon of his promised visit, a day soft with spring showers and fleeting sunshine. Maud sat in a basket-chair on the verandah and regarded him with puzzled eyes. She passed his questions by.
"Charlie," she said, "where does she come from?"
He raised his shoulders expressively. "Where do all women come from—and why, chère reine? It would be such a peaceful planet without them."
He was in a baffling mood, and she knew better than to pursue the subject under those conditions. She abandoned her effort with a sigh.
"She is not a woman; she is a child, very charming but utterly irresponsible. She is in the training field just now with Jake and Bunny. She is a positive delight to Jake. She can do anything with the horses."