Three or four days afterwards Evelyn and a young relation started for the post-office at a Surrey village. A long row of red-roofed houses began by the railway and stopped at the wide heath; the tarred road and high telegraph posts went on to London. Mrs. Haigh had not gone back to town, and Evelyn began to feel that she was bored. Her hosts were not fashionable, and the people she met did not interest her. Then Hannah Grant was recently from school, and a raw girl’s society had not much charm.
By and by a car crossed the heath and stopped by the post-office. The driver called a telegraph boy and then went slowly up the street as if he looked for a house. After a few moments Evelyn’s dulness vanished; the man was Harry Ledward and she knew he looked for Mrs. Grant’s. She waved and he stopped by the path.
“The weather’s good and when I got to the office Jasper stated I might take a holiday,” he said. “I thought I’d look you up and risk your being occupied. What does one do here on a fine afternoon?”
“We play golf,” Evelyn replied. “Sometimes we go for a walk.”
Ledward smiled and Hannah Grant gave him an approving look.
“Sometimes one gets deadly bored,” she remarked. “Well, we can give you tea and polite conversation, but perhaps you’d like a round of golf? My handicap’s thirty and Evelyn foozles.”
“I’ve another plan,” said Ledward. “I wonder whether you and Evelyn would like to run to town? But perhaps you go often and it does not attract you much?”
“I go when return tickets are cheap,” Hannah replied. “If you want to take Evelyn, you must take me. Mother and Mrs. Haigh are very proper, but I don’t mind admitting I am not. Besides I’d love to go!”
“Then, jump up. Where’s your house?”
“At the end of the row; the pond is in front. Father declares it gives the spot a rural touch and he likes the white ducks. The drawback is the ducks are not its only occupants.... But get in, Evelyn. Your part’s to persuade mother.”