She told old Barlow that she did not expect to be back much before five, and he, by reason of long service, and in the capacity of ‘friend of the family,’ took upon himself to ask if he might venture to inquire in which direction she thought of riding.
‘Oh yes, Barlow, you had, perhaps, better know. I think of going round by Cotherstone, to a place called Catcastle.’
‘It’s a very wild country, miss,’ said Barlow, with a look of alarm. ‘A very bleak road, indeed, Miss Askam, for a winter’s day.’
‘It is not like a winter’s day this afternoon, and I shall do nothing rash, you may be sure,’ she said, repressing with a little feeling of guiltiness the further information that ‘romantic Deepdale’s slender rill’ had taken such hold on her imagination, that after carefully consulting an ordnance map, and finding that all the three places—Cotherstone, Catcastle, and Deepdale—were within a circuit of ten miles, she had resolved to see them that afternoon.
‘I don’t think Mr. Askam would quite approve,’ began Barlow, with an anxious look.
‘Oh, Mr. Askam is away,’ said Eleanor, wilfully. ‘And, Barlow, be sure to have some tea quite ready by five o’clock, for I am sure I shall want it very badly when I get in.’
So saying, she chirped to her horse, and it carried her quickly round the bend in the drive, William following her. Barlow stood at the door, and shook his venerable head.
‘A real Askam for wilfulness,’ he said within himself, ‘but as sweet as an angel in temper. Eh, dear! If poor dear Mr. Otho was but a bit more like her! I don’t know where he’ll end, I’m sure.’
Again shaking his head with the true Jeremiah shake of an old retainer who sees his most cherished prejudices overridden by a new generation, Barlow closed the hall-door and retired to his own quarters.
Eleanor rode quickly forth, feeling the air and the sunshine thrill through her, and rejoice her very soul. She lifted her beautiful face upwards towards the field of blue—albeit a pale November blue, one could see the colour it was meant for—and inhaled the fresh, westerly breeze, which had in it, could she have understood its ‘feel,’ a promise of north in the not distant future.