CHAPTER XXVII
THE TOKEN
"Why wouldn't you see me last night?" said Saltash.
He sat on the corner of the table, swinging a careless leg the while under quizzical brows he watched Maud arrange a great bunch of violets in a bowl. The violets were straight from the Burchester frames, and he had ridden over to present them.
Maud was plainly in a reticent mood. She had accepted the gift indeed, but with somewhat distant courtesy.
"It was late," she said. "And I was attending to Bunny."
"Bunny!" He echoed the name with half-mocking surprise. "Does he still engross the whole of your energies? I thought you would have been more occupied with Jake."
She stiffened ever so slightly at his words. "I only saw him for a few moments," she said.
"What! Didn't he come to you to tie up his broken head?" said Saltash. "I nearly killed him, you know. But it was his own fault."
"I am aware of that," Maud said coldly.