Mr. Walters showed his sympathy with such a state of affairs by a pressure that nearly took her breath away. They sat for an hour and a half on a bench by the river discussing the foolishness of young men.
"If any of them chaps trouble you again," he said, as they shook hands at the gate of Laurel Lodge, "you let me know. Do you have Sunday evening out too?"
[CHAPTER XI]
I HAVE been knocking for the last ten minutes," said Hartley, as he stood one evening at the open door of No. 5, Tranquil Vale, and looked up at Captain Trimblett.
"I was in the summer-house," said the captain, standing aside to let him enter.
"Alone?" queried the visitor.
"Alone? Yes, of course," said the captain, sharply. "Why shouldn't I be? Peter's courting—as usual."
"And Mrs. Chinnery?" inquired the other.
"She's away for a day or two," replied the captain; "friends at Marsham."
He stopped in the small kitchen to get some beer and glasses, and, with the bottle gripped under his arm and a glass in each hand, led the way to the summer-house.