He brought himself and his attention round to her at once, and asked how he could be of service.
'Your mother,' began Miss Betty, stitching away, 'has given me a commission concerning you. She desires me to see to it that ennui does not creep upon you during your vacation in this unexciting place. How do I know but it is creeping upon you already? and you give me no chance to drive it away.'
Pitt laughed a little. 'I was never attacked by ennui in my life,' he said.
'So you do not want my services!'
'Not to fight an enemy that is nowhere in sight. Perhaps he is your enemy, and I might be helpful in another way.'
It occurred to him that he had been charged to make Miss Frere's sojourn in Seaforth pleasant; and some vague sense of what this mutual charge might mean dawned upon him, with a rising light of amusement.
'I don't know!' said the young lady. 'You did once propose a drive. If you would propose it again, perhaps I would go. We cannot help its being hot?'
So they went for a drive. The roads were capital, the evening was lovely, the horses went well, and the phaeton was comfortable; if that were not enough, it was all. Miss Frere bore it for a while patiently.
'Do you dislike talking?' she asked at length meekly, when a soft bit of road and the slow movement of the horses gave her a good opportunity.
'I? Not at all!' said Pitt, rousing himself as out of a muse.