Jimmy had noticed that Spennie was not in the room. He now understood his absence. After the ride he had probably felt that an hour or two passed out of his aunt's society would not do him any harm. He was now undergoing a rest cure, Jimmy imagined, in the billiard room.
"I can assure you," said he, by way of lending a helping hand to the absent one, "I really preferred to walk. I have only just landed in England from New York, and it's quite a treat to walk on an English country road again."
"Are you from New York? I wonder if——"
"Jimmy's an old friend," said Molly. "We knew him very well indeed. It was such a surprise meeting him."
"How interesting," said Lady Jane languidly, as if the intellectual strain of the conversation had been too much for her. "You will have such lots to talk about, won't you?"
"I say," said Jimmy, as they moved away, "who is that fellow Wesson?"
"Oh, a man," said Molly vaguely.
"There's no need to be fulsome," said Jimmy. "He can't hear."
"Mother likes him. I don't."
"Mother?"