“And we have interrupted you, perhaps, just as the fish are biting. Come, Mary. Good-morning, Mr Lisle.”
“Oh!”
Only a little interjection, but so full of reproach that Claude coloured here deeply, and more deeply still as, upon looking round for her companion, she found her comfortably seated upon a mossy stone, and with her head turned away to hide the mischievous delight which flashed from her eyes.
“I’m beginning to be afraid that I have offended you, Miss Gartram—Claude.”
“Oh, no; what nonsense. Come, Mary.”
The stone upon which she sat was not more deaf.
“Don’t hurry away. I thought I was some day to give you a lesson in salmon fishing.”
“I should never learn, Mr Lisle; and, besides, it is not a very ladylike accomplishment.”
“Anything you did, Claude, would be ladylike. Come, I know there are two or three salmon in this pool. They will not rise for me; they might for you.”
“I should scare them away.”