At this moment Claud approached.
"Miss Allonby," he said, "I wonder if you would get your brother's permission for Mr. Dickens to rifle the things he left behind him at the 'Fountain Head'with Mrs. Clapp?"
"Oh, certainly, I am sure he would have no objection. Perhaps I had better come myself," said Wynifred. "I have been wanting to fetch up some paints."
"It would be far the best plan," said Claud, with alacrity. "I am going to walk down with my sister and Miss Brabourne. Will you come to? I will see you safely home again."
"You are very kind," she answered, simply. "I will go and tell Osmond, and see whether nurse has given him his tea."
"We shall have to set out soon," said Lady Mabel, "or we shall be late for tea at Edge Willoughby."
"The amount of meals one can get through in this climate!" observed Claud, pensively. "Why, you have this moment finished one tea, Mab,—I'm ashamed of you! Mr. Fowler, how many meals a day am I to have at the Lower House?"
"Oh, I think I can promise you as many as you can eat, without taxing my cook or my larder too far. We are used to appetites here."
"A fellow-feeling makes us wondrous kind," mused Mr. Cranmer. "The fact that King Henry died of a surfeit used to impress me, I remember, with an unfavorable view of that monarch's character. But"—he heaved a sigh, and, with a side-glance of fun at Elsa, took another strawberry—"nous avons changé tout cela! Vive Devonshire and the Devon air!"