"Captain Brooke, what is the matter with you? We were talking of Mr. Mayne. We had better leave off if you are not attending, and go and look at those tiles."
"The more serious matter is the water," he said, shaking off his preoccupation and sensibly relieved by the change of subject.
He led the way from where they stood to a pit four feet deep, with a stand-pipe projecting from the newly-turned soil. Kneeling down on the edge, he bent over, and turned on the union tap, which had been fixed for connection with a rubber hose. The girl gave a mortified exclamation:
"Why, it's dry!"
He acquiesced.
"That's where Shepherd's rage against the Lee-Simmons engineer comes in, and why he wants to wipe up the floor with him. The supply was all right the first two days, dribbled for two more; then stopped. The engineer says it is simply that Shepherd's men have fixed the thing so carelessly that the pipe's blocked down below. I think I'll get the jointed rod and probe it."
"Oh, my fish-pond, I thought I had secured you!" said Melicent sadly.
"You shall have it, if there's water in Wiltshire," he began; then stopping dead—"I mean, the thing must be made to act somehow. By the way, there's Alfred with the cart. I'll send him back for the rod; he can bring it in a few minutes."
"Lend me your wrench, then, and I'll get the tap right off," said the girl.
He handed her the tool she asked for, and went off across the field to give his directions.