"Why shouldn't he?"
"Because it was a reasonable thing to do, and my father is never reasonable, as you know."
"Carrington will think me rude."
"Not if he can see through a brick wall. And from what you have told me about him, Rupert, I think his eyes are quite keen enough to do so. There is one thing to be said," observed Miss Mallien, rather piqued by the barrister's neglect, "that your friend isn't anxious to see me."
"On the contrary, he is very eager," Rupert assured her hastily.
"Does his going back to the Big House look like it?"
"Ah, I expect he had some delicacy in interrupting our tête-à-tête, Dorinda."
"There's something in that," replied Miss Mallien, dexterously binding her bunches of roses loosely together, "and his action speaks well for him. Perhaps I shall like him better than I expect to, Rupert."
The Squire looked up in astonishment from his task of brimming the altar vases with spring water. "Why shouldn't you like him in any case?"
"Well," Dorinda placed a bunch of flowers in a vase and put her head on one side to note the effect, "you say that Mr. Carrington is cynical, and I don't like cynical people. I have had so much cynicism from my father that it is impossible to stand more of it from another person."