‘Staying with Uncle James?’
‘Yes: he asked me to spend my holidays down here, and I thought I might as well come.’
‘How long do you get?’
‘Three weeks; but I may take a month.’
An unreasonable jealousy of his cousin sprang up in Alec’s breast at that moment. Five minutes before he was perfectly satisfied with his lot; now, because another occupied a more favourable position than himself, he was miserable. He had been able to meet Laura nearly every day; but this fellow was to live under the same roof with her, to eat at the same table, to breathe the same air. To see her and talk to her would be his rival’s daily, hourly privilege.
‘Splendid hills!’ said Semple.
Alec made no reply. The scenery was too sacred a subject to be discussed with one like Semple.
‘What do you do with yourself all day?’ asked the new-comer.
‘Oh, I take a swim in the morning, give the boys their lessons from ten to one; then I generally take a row, or a walk, or read some Horace.’
‘I should think you’d get dreadfully tired of it, after a bit. There are no places where they play tennis, I suppose?’