CHAPTER X A DISCOVERY
The morning breeze darted in and out of Ann’s bedroom like a child tentatively trying to inveigle a grown-up person into playing hide-and-seek. With every puff a big cluster of roses, which had climbed to the sill, swayed forward and peeped inside, sending a whiff of delicate perfume across to where Ann was kneeling, surrounded by trunks and suitcases, unpacking her belongings. Pleasant little sounds of life floated up from outdoors—the clucking of a hen, the stamping of the bay cob as Billy Brewster groomed him, whistling softly through his teeth while he brushed and curry-combed, the occasional honk of a motor-horn as a car sped by in the distance. Then came the beat of a horse’s hoofs, stopping abruptly outside the cottage gate.
Ann did not pause in her occupation of emptying a hatbox of its tissue-shrouded contents. Robin had ridden away almost immediately after breakfast, so she merely supposed that, having started early, he had returned early. But a minute later Maria was standing in the doorway of the room, her broad face red with the exertion of hurrying upstairs, her eyes blinking excitedly.
“‘Tis Mr. Coventry himself, miss,” she announced. “He didn’t inquire if any one was at home, but just followed me in and asked me to tell Master Robin he was here.”
Ann rose reluctantly from her knees, dusting her hands together.
“All right, Maria, I’ll go down and see him. Perhaps he can leave a message with me for Robin. I hope, though,” she added with a faint sense of irritation, “that he isn’t going to make a habit of dropping in here in the mornings.”
Only pausing to push back a stray lock of hair, she ran quickly downstairs and into the living-room.
“I’m so sorry”—she began speaking almost as she crossed the threshold—“but my brother is out.”