Jenny turned a slow head and stared with solemn, violet eyes. Then she gave a flick of the tail.
"Jenny is agreeable. We shall be friends."
Stool and milk-pail stood in the stall where the early sunlight streamed through the doorway and fell upon the yellow straw. Nance set her stool and sat down with one cheek against Jenny's flank. The white milk frothed into the pail, the cow standing placid and trustful under the girl's hands.
Jasper Benham leant against the door-post, content to look at Nance as a man may look at a girl.
"Do you find it lonely here?"
"Lonely? Well—sometimes. Father and I have always had a lonely life. I'm used to it. Though I don't say that I might not be discontented—if——"
She glanced up and smiled.
"If——"
"If—I—had ever known gayer people. A girl likes to enjoy things just as much as a man does. I love a new dress."
"I don't know that I'm not proud of a new coat! Do you ever go to Hastings, or Eastbourne, or Brighton?"