Then it strangely happened that someone came round the bushes, in the shadow of which the three were reposing, and that it was no other than Miss Nancarrow, this time unaccompanied. Bunce did not notice her till she stood before him, then he jumped to his feet.
'Don't disturb yourself, Mr. Bunce,' said Totty, with her usual self-command. 'I'm only going to have a talk with Nelly, that's all.'
She sat down on the grass by the little one, and began a grave dialogue on the subject of certain ailments from which the doll had recently recovered.
It had been nursed through measles—Nelly having had them not long ago—and its face still showed signs of the disease.
Jack was not disposed to talk. His discretion had been impugned, and at Jack's age one feels anything of that kind shrewdly. Letting his eyes wander about the portion of park that lay before them, he saw at a little distance the nucleus of a religious meeting. At any other time he would have scorned to pay attention to such a phenomenon; at present he was glad of any opportunity of asserting his independence. He knew his father ridiculed prayer-meetings, consequently he rose and began to walk in the direction of the group of people.
'Where are you going, Jack?' cried Bunce.
'Only for a walk. I'll come back.'
His father acquiesced. Totty suspended her talk and gazed after him for a moment. Then she turned to Bunce.
'So you've found rooms, Mr. Bunce?' she said, with a piece of sorrel between her lips.
'Yes, I've got two that'll suit us, I think.'