“Then why don’t you?”
The parson smiled at her, nodding his handsome head.
“Old Ephraim is sorely troubled about his best cow.”
“But I’m not a cow doctor.”
“No, no, but Ephraim thinks that the trouble is not so much with the cow, a valuable animal, so he tells me, but with the cowhouse. He thinks it needs rebuilding.”
Lady Selina said trenchantly:
“You mean he said so to you?”
“M’yes. Not that he complained. He pointed out to me that the roof might fall in on top of the cows.”
Lady Selina laughed, but her forehead was not quite smooth as she replied:
“I see, Ephraim Exton didn’t complain, but he persuaded you to do it. Really, the old fellow is quite hopeless.”