“I will certainly do so if you ask me in that way, but an invitation in these circumstances is often a matter of form, to be refused like a dinner invitation when one knows there is nothing to eat.”
They both laughed, and Ena opened the door. Her life was so lonely that she was rather enjoying the chance of talking to one who was evidently a gentleman.
He carried the basket in for her, helped her light a lamp, and an oil stove, which had gone out and had been smoking horribly.
“My brother will be back soon, and you must let me make you a cup of tea. You see there is something to eat from the weight of the basket.” He saw a merry smile come to her mouth, and a pair of trusting blue eyes looked into his.
Soon they were sitting over the oil stove, now giving out a welcome heat, and had started to thaw.
“I wonder where Jack can have got to?” she said. “He went out for a walk some time ago.”
Halley thought to himself “And left you to carry the supplies,” but he left the remark unsaid.
“He has taken lately to these long walks, and I find it rather lonely. I would like you to see him.”
“I shall be delighted,” answered Halley, amused at her naïve manner. “I am a stranger here, perhaps the air will do me good.”
She glanced at him, and thought he looked ill, though straight and very handsome. She imagined he had suffered in health or through some secret sorrow, and her girlish fancy was already building a romantic past round him.