“We have none yet,” said Mrs. Le Breton.
“We could give you a bit of a start with some,” Pickett joined in. “Favorolles are good all-round fowls, and we could well spare some. What do you keep in the little wood, Mr. Alvin?”
The question was so sudden and unexpected, that Alvin could not at first reply.
At last he stammered out:
“Nothing—as yet.”
“You’re not offended at my asking, are you?” demanded the farmer. “No offence meant, you know; only seeing that the wood is wired in so finely, and you have built a high wall round something in the clearing, I wondered—”
Mrs. Le Breton caught Pickett’s eye and slightly shook her head.
A silence fell on the company, and even when at last a few remarks were exchanged, all felt a sense of strain, and it was a relief when tea was over and the two men sat by the fire to smoke.
Then it was that Minnie rather shyly offered to show Miss Le Breton round the rambling old house. There was not a great deal to show, but Eweretta was genuinely interested, because she had never seen anything of the sort before; also, the girls found plenty to say to each other when once the ice was broken.
Minnie was not reserved, nor did she perceive that Eweretta was so.