was quite unable to prevent one tear from rolling off her lashes and running quite noticeably down her cheek, “it would be lovely to see Miss Mattie again and your little boy Jamie! And it won’t be necessary for you to carry me to the
lift------”
“Then your ankle is better?”
“Oh, yes, yes—I can walk!”
“But, nevertheless, we will not allow you to walk more than is necessary.” He nodded his head at her, having averted his eyes from that sparkling drop on her cheek which she was proposing to remove as soon as she could find her handkerchief. She made wild, groping movements in the pockets of her linen dress for that same handkerchief, but she didn’t appear able to run it to earth, and he escaped to the door. “I will wait outside for you,” he repeated.
Lois was terrified lest he should feel he was being kept waiting too long, and although it was necessary to make some alteration to her dress—since this time, at least, she was not going to appear at the quinta looking like a cross between a sea-urchin and an unusually fair gypsy—she made that alteration so hurriedly that when she appeared in the corridor outside her room he had not even begun to look at his watch. But he did look at her rather closely, she thought. The dress she had donned was a pale, crisp green like a lettuce, and it had a white belt and a little round white collar like a puritan collar, and the sandals she had slipped into were snowy with blanco. She wore no hat, and her curls looked soft and silken and framed her small face like an aureole.
“It is not yet very hot,” he said, “so I do not think you will need a hat. And we will see to it that you are kept well in the shade this afternoon.”
He had already pressed the bell for the lift, and when it arrived he swung her lightly up into his arms and carried her over the slight step and into the roomy depths of the old-fashioned lift. She had not yet recovered her breath after that moment of finding herself with her face on a level with his dark chin, and the scent of his shaving cream in her nostrils, when he picked her up again and carried her— despite protests this time—out to his car. Once in the car she had the feeling that he knew her face was hot, and that she found it curiously difficult to meet his eyes, for as he started up his engine and waited for another vehicle to pass before he left the curb he asked her whether she was perfectly comfortable, and there was a faint trace of amusement in his voice.
At the quinta she was taken at once to the apartments shared by Miss Mattie and her small charge, and as these were on the ground floor there was no necessity for her to be carried upstairs, as she had half feared. Nursery quarters were so often on the first floor, and she had dreaded that ascent of the handsome baroque staircase in the arms of Dom Julyan for a reason she could not have put a name to.
As it was, however, she was spared this further ordeal, and Miss Mattie welcomed her in a lovely room that was beautifully equipped with modern furnishings and overlooked another of the velvety lawns that were enclosed with high walls of exotic shrubbery.
Miss Mattie seemed genuinely pleased to see her, but was concerned because she had sprained her ankle. She placed her in the most comfortable armchair the room contained, and until lunch was announced and they went into the next room where the table was bright with flowers and silver and crystal, as it might have been for the master of the place, they chatted comfortably, while Jamie sat on a kind of footstool at Lois’s feet.
There was no doubt about it, Lois had made a marked impression on Jamie, and he asked her all sorts of questions about England while they sat at lunch. Although physically a little underdeveloped, he was mentally extremely alert, and his knowledge amazed Lois. He had obviously read a great deal, and the fact that Miss Mattie was rather past doing much to actually instruct him had caused
lift------”
“Then your ankle is better?”
“Oh, yes, yes—I can walk!”
“But, nevertheless, we will not allow you to walk more than is necessary.” He nodded his head at her, having averted his eyes from that sparkling drop on her cheek which she was proposing to remove as soon as she could find her handkerchief. She made wild, groping movements in the pockets of her linen dress for that same handkerchief, but she didn’t appear able to run it to earth, and he escaped to the door. “I will wait outside for you,” he repeated.
Lois was terrified lest he should feel he was being kept waiting too long, and although it was necessary to make some alteration to her dress—since this time, at least, she was not going to appear at the quinta looking like a cross between a sea-urchin and an unusually fair gypsy—she made that alteration so hurriedly that when she appeared in the corridor outside her room he had not even begun to look at his watch. But he did look at her rather closely, she thought. The dress she had donned was a pale, crisp green like a lettuce, and it had a white belt and a little round white collar like a puritan collar, and the sandals she had slipped into were snowy with blanco. She wore no hat, and her curls looked soft and silken and framed her small face like an aureole.
“It is not yet very hot,” he said, “so I do not think you will need a hat. And we will see to it that you are kept well in the shade this afternoon.”
He had already pressed the bell for the lift, and when it arrived he swung her lightly up into his arms and carried her over the slight step and into the roomy depths of the old-fashioned lift. She had not yet recovered her breath after that moment of finding herself with her face on a level with his dark chin, and the scent of his shaving cream in her nostrils, when he picked her up again and carried her— despite protests this time—out to his car. Once in the car she had the feeling that he knew her face was hot, and that she found it curiously difficult to meet his eyes, for as he started up his engine and waited for another vehicle to pass before he left the curb he asked her whether she was perfectly comfortable, and there was a faint trace of amusement in his voice.
At the quinta she was taken at once to the apartments shared by Miss Mattie and her small charge, and as these were on the ground floor there was no necessity for her to be carried upstairs, as she had half feared. Nursery quarters were so often on the first floor, and she had dreaded that ascent of the handsome baroque staircase in the arms of Dom Julyan for a reason she could not have put a name to.
As it was, however, she was spared this further ordeal, and Miss Mattie welcomed her in a lovely room that was beautifully equipped with modern furnishings and overlooked another of the velvety lawns that were enclosed with high walls of exotic shrubbery.
Miss Mattie seemed genuinely pleased to see her, but was concerned because she had sprained her ankle. She placed her in the most comfortable armchair the room contained, and until lunch was announced and they went into the next room where the table was bright with flowers and silver and crystal, as it might have been for the master of the place, they chatted comfortably, while Jamie sat on a kind of footstool at Lois’s feet.
There was no doubt about it, Lois had made a marked impression on Jamie, and he asked her all sorts of questions about England while they sat at lunch. Although physically a little underdeveloped, he was mentally extremely alert, and his knowledge amazed Lois. He had obviously read a great deal, and the fact that Miss Mattie was rather past doing much to actually instruct him had caused
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