"No. But other days you are busy."
Jeff dropped upon his knees again in front of her, and turned his attention to brushing the worst of the mud from her skirt. He attacked it with extreme vigour, his smooth lips firmly shut.
At the end of nearly a minute he paused. "I shan't be too busy for that any day," he said.
"Not really?" Doris sounded a little doubtful.
He looked at her, and somehow his brown eyes made her lower her own. They held a mastery, a confidence, that embarrassed her subtly and quite inexplicably.
"Come any time," he said, "except market-day. Mrs. Grimshaw will always know where I am to be found, and will send me word."
She nodded. "I shall come one morning then. I will ride round, shall I?"
He returned to his task, faintly smiling. "Don't take any five-barred gates on your way!" he said.
"No, I shan't do that again," she promised. "Five-barred gates have their drawbacks."