'We can build another,' he replied lightly, as if building another huge barn was the work of a few hours. 'Come, let's see you go round.'
Horatia accordingly started off, and Mark Clay followed her with approving eyes.
'She's a nice, dear girl, isn't she, Mark?' said his wife, emboldened by her husband's softer expression to approach him.
'She is that,' he replied with emphasis.
'The man seems fond of his daughter. I heard he was as harsh at home as he is abroad; but I see he has been maligned,' said a visitor, who did not know Sarah.
'That is not his daughter, I am sure, for they say she is the prettiest girl in Ousebank,' replied a friend.
'Well, that is a very nice, bright-looking girl, and a millionaire's daughter is always pretty in the eyes of the world; gold makes most things beautiful,' replied the lady; and she had hardly uttered the words when Sarah herself, noticing that the two were strangers, and had not had refreshments, came up to them.
'Won't you come and have some tea?' she asked in her dignified and rather stiff way.
'Thank you; it would be nice. Are you Miss Clay, then?' inquired the lady, who recognised that she was speaking to the prettiest girl present, at all events.