“It must be a great relief for you to find yourself in Sussex.”
She fixed her large eyes on his face, and said: “Yes, but—do you not like exciting things, mon cousin?”
“I do not like revolutions, if that is what you mean.”
She shook her head. “Ah no, but romance, and—and adventure!”
He smiled. “When I was eighteen I expect I did.”
A depressed silence fell. “Grandpère says that you will make me a very good husband,” said Eustacie presently.
Taken by surprise, Shield replied stiffly: “I shall endeavour to do so, cousin.”
“And I expect,” said Eustacie, despondently inspecting a dish of damson tartlets, “that he is quite right. You look to me like a good husband.”
“Indeed?” said Sir Tristram, unreasonably annoyed by thisremark. “I am sorry that I cannot return the compliment by telling you that you look like a good wife.”
The gentle melancholy which had descended on Eustacie vanished. She dimpled delightfully, and said: “No, I don’t, do I? But do you think that I am pretty?”