And, with all his growing admiration of her, the fashionable young officer almost laughed when his charming companion showed him her hen-houses—her beautiful Hamburgs, Dorkings, and their chutches of Cochin-China chickens.
'Do you like bees?' she asked.
'No—they sting, you know; but I don't object to the honey.'
So she showed him her hives, as if Goring had never seen such things before; and so on by the duck-pond, and round the old-fashioned house, with its heavy eaves, dormer windows, and masses of ivy, and he could only think what a picturesque background it made to the central figure of his lovely companion, who, sooth to say, in the pleasure of his society, forgot all about her other guests; or, if she did think, she knew that Mrs. Trelawney could amuse them all.
To Bevil Goring Alison was quite unlike any other girl he had met, she seemed so highly bred, and yet withal so natural. There seemed to be an originality about her that piqued his fancy, while her freshness of heart was charming; and she often showed a depth of thought and consideration—born perhaps of her family troubles and surroundings—that surprised and interested him. More than all did her grace and beauty bewilder him; and after this, amid the routine of duty at Aldershot, and during many a dusty day of drill in the Long Valley, he could only think of her image, her soft laughter, and the sweet, varying expression of her grey-blue eyes.
'With what pathos Mrs. Trelawney sang!' said Goring, as after their little promenade they drew near the French window again.
'Yes; one might have thought she was singing that queer song of herself. There seemed somehow a kind of wail in it, as if it came from the heart. But we must go in now.'
'One moment yet,' said he, pausing and almost touching her hand; 'I am so happy to be alone with you that I grudge every opportunity you give to others.'
'It is very good of you to say so,' replied Alison to this rather confused remark, as their eyes met with a mutual glance neither could mistake nor ever forget; 'but the evening has become very chilly.'
And with this commonplace remark, while her heart was beating wildly with new, delicious, and hitherto unknown emotions that made her cheek glow and then grow very pale, Alison entered the room as Bevil Goring opened and reclosed the French window.