Chapter Five.
July 15th.
I was not in the least interested to know anything about what Will Dudley and Rachel Greaves talked about together, but I was anxious to find out if she had said anything to show him that I was really grown-up, instead of the child he thought me; so the next time we met I asked her plump and plain—
“What did you and Mr Dudley say about me the other morning?”
We were walking along a lane together, and she turned her head and stared at me in blank surprise.
“About you? The other morning? We—we never spoke of you at all!”
Then I suppose I looked angry, or red, or something, for she seemed in a tremendous hurry to appease me.
“We have a great many interests in common. When we lived in town we belonged to the same societies, and worked for the same charities. It is interesting to remember old days, and tell each other the latest news we have heard about the work and its progress.”
“Then you knew him before he came here? He is not a new friend?”
“Oh, no—we have known him for years. It was father who got him his present position.”