“An excellent suggestion. If you will give me her direction, I will have a letter conveyed to her immediately,” said Carlyon.
Elinor, feeling herself quite overborne, meekly said that she would write to Miss Beccles.
“And you must not think that you will be lonely,” Nicky assured her. “For we shall come over to visit you, you know.”
She thanked him, but turned once more to Carlyon. “And what is to be done about Mrs. Macclesfield?” she asked.
“It is very uncivil of us, no doubt, but I am inclined to think that we shall do best to let Mrs. Macclesfield pass out of our lives without embarking on explanations which cannot be other than awkward,” he replied.
Upon reflection she was obliged to agree with him.
Chapter VI
Shortly after noon, resigned but by no means reconciled, Mrs. Cheviot was driven to Highnoons by her host. They went in his lordship’s carriage, very sedately, and his lordship beguiled the tedium by pointing out to the lady various landmarks, happy falls of country, or glimpses of woodland, which, he told her, would later on be carpeted with bluebells. Mrs. Cheviot responded with cold civility and inaugurated no topic of conversation.
“This country is not in the grand style,” said Carlyon, “but there are some very pretty rides near Highnoons which I will show you one day.”
“Indeed?” she said.