I perceived that my friend was an agriculturist, and endeavoured to humour him.
"They are looking splendid!" I said with enthusiasm.
He sat down, and we exchanged a few more remarks on the weather and the crops, in the course of which he had filled and lit a pipe and made himself entirely at home.
"Are you staying with the minister?" he inquired presently.
"I am visiting him," I replied evasively,
"I understand Miss Holland's here too," said he, with an extra twinkle in his eye.
I knew, of course, that he must mean Eileen, and I must confess that I was devoured with curiosity.
"She is," I said. "Do you know her?"
"Know her? She was my governess! Has she not told you the joke of how she left me in the lurch?"
It flashed across my mind that it might seem odd if I were to admit that "Miss Holland" had said nothing about this mysterious adventure.