"Well, you certainly are frank!"
"What's that mean?" asked Effie.
"It means that you deserve a whipping. Come on. And, see here, Effie, you mustn't say anything about that to anyone. Have you told anyone else?"
"Only Norah."
"What did she say?"
"She only laughed."
Miss Grimshaw felt as though she were walking through a veil of blushes. Happily there was no one to see. Bobby Dashwood's extraordinary behaviour by the bridge was nothing, absolutely nothing, to the fact that he had told about it to Mr. French. To kiss, to run away, to tell! She knew nothing of the position of the two men towards one another; she only knew just what had occurred on the bridge, and what Effie had told her.
The uphill path to the village went between a double row of poplar trees and debouched on the Roman road just by the village pump.
"Are you going to the post-office?" asked Effie as they drew near the road.