She was put out of countenance. “Oh, no, no, no! I was not asking to be complimented on my looks, but upon my docility!”
There was an amused expression in his eyes. He answered, however, with perfect gravity, “You forget that I have three sisters. I trust I have learned from them to avoid making such remarks as must be reckoned tactless in the extreme.”
She laughed out at that. “Well! It is very hard if I am not to be praised for showing myself so biddable! I received my Lord Bedlington yesterday in the most somber black imaginable. He has been with you, I think. Has he told you of his intention to stay at Highnoons for the funeral?”
“Yes, and I am aware that you have cause for complaint. Believe me, I did not intend you to undergo such hardship when I begged you to take up your residence here.”
“No! It quite spoils the tranquillity of my sojourn here!” she countered. “When all has been so agreeable until now!”
He smiled, but only said, “I trust your rest was undisturbed last night?”
“No such thing! Your brother’s odious dog scratched so vigorously at my door that I was obliged to get up out of my bed to let him in!”
“He must have taken a marked fancy to you, ma’am,” he said politely.
“He had a marked fancy for the ham bone he had laid under my bed!” she retorted.
He laughed. “Well, that is a great deal too bad, certainly, but never mind! I am relieving you of both him and my graceless brother.”