“Will you loose me?”
“Are you done with your fishwifely tantrums?”
My lady held herself pridefully, glared furiously, then suddenly bit her lip, bowed her head, and something bright and sparkling fell upon his hand; at this he loosed her suddenly and she as suddenly turned her back upon him.
Sir John picked up his hat, knocked the dust from it, put it on, and stood regarding her pensively.
“Rose,” said he at last, “dear child, suffer me to take thy hand.” Then he reached and clasped her unresisting fingers; and thus, hand in hand, they went on down the lane together.
CHAPTER XXVIII
TELLETH HOW MY LADY ADOPTED A FAIRY GODMOTHER
High Dering, drowsing in the sun, opened a door here and there to stare in idle wonderment as Sir John handed his companion in at Dame Haryott’s garden wicket, for visitors were rare, more especially such visitors as these who bowed and curtsied to each other with such courtly, albeit frigid, ceremony; so High Dering opened its doors a little wider and became a trifle more awake as Sir John knocked.
And, after some while, chains rattled, bolts creaked, the heavy door opened, and old Penelope stood peering at them from the dim interior.
“Good-day, Mrs. Penelope,” said Sir John, removing his hat and saluting her in his easy, unaffected manner. “You desired to see me, I think?”