Her face fell with all the ingenuousness of eighteen.
“Oh,” she protested, “some of his eternal green manures, or hillside terracing, or water-pocketing.”
“But he said something about swimming at five.”
Her face brightened joyously.
“Then we’ll meet at the tank. It must be the same party. Paula said swimming at five.”
As they parted under a long arcade, where his way led to the tower room for a change into riding clothes, she stopped suddenly and called:
“Oh, Mr. Graham.”
He turned obediently.
“You really are not compelled to fall in love with Paula, you know. It was just my way of putting it.”
“I shall be very, very careful,” he said solemnly, although there was a twinkle in his eye as he concluded.