Melanie could get in a word.
“ Oh, yes! ” He made a slight, expressive face. “ I forgot she ’ s indulging in being an invalid again! Oh, well, in that case— ” He paused, looked at Melanie with a faint, regretful lift of one eyebrow, as well as one side of his always rather attractively crooked mouth, and shrugged his shoulders. “ In that case I ’ ll have my dinner on a tray in the library, to save you opening up the dining-room, Abbie, but I ’ d be glad of a whiskey and soda as soon as you can produce it. ”
“ Certainly, Mr. Richard. ”
He stooped and picked up Baxter, who settled with delighted purrs against his shoulder, and then walked with the masterful tread of one who knew himself to be the master in his own house towards the door of the library. But before he reached it he called over his shoulder to Melanie, “ Better get those wet shoes of yours changed, Miss Brooks. And give my devoted regards to my niece! ”
The message was ironical, as was the backward look which accompanied it, but Melanie answered simply—conscious of feeling rather like a highly inflated balloon which had received a sudden prick, “ Yes, Mr. Trenchard. ”
And then as he disappeared, airily casual once again—as she had known him on at least two or three occasions since they first became acquainted—and the library door closed firmly behind him, she moved slowly forward towards the stairs and ascended them under the eyes of the watching portraits with that unpleasant, deflated feeling keeping pace with her steps. For, although it was quite absurd, of course, she had so thoroughly enjoyed that short walk up the drive, and the conversation which had preceded it, and now—now only Baxter was permitted to accompany him into the library !
She quickened her steps and started to run up the stairs, for, after all, she had had the walk, and she must let Noel know her uncle had arrived. And but for Noel ’ s cold— the thought intruded—they would all three be dining downstairs in the dining-room and drinking a toast to the house in champagne!
The next day Richard Trenchard ’ s good humor continued, and he congratulated Melanie on Noel ’ s altered appearance, for her confinement to bed had been rather in the nature of a precautionary measure, and she was able to get up a nd join them for breakfast on the first morning that he had breakfast in his own wide-windowed, sun - flooded breakfast-room—which had nothing at all to do with the dining-room, and had once been a little oak-panelled parlor, and was conveniently close to the green-baize door to the kitchen.
Although the snow still held fast, the sky on this first morning of his visit was blue and inviting, and Noel ’ s jumper was blue and she wore a very well-cut tweed skirt. Her cheeks were fuller and her eyes clearer and her spun-gold hair hung down her back in two very thick and attractive braids. It was quite remarkable hair, and although she agitated continually to have it cut to a more fashionable length, Melanie hoped her uncle would withhold his sanction, and had tried winding it about her head in a coronet of plaits which suited her young and pensive face.
“ It seems to me, ” the owner of the house remarked, after studying his niece intently for several seconds after she entered the room, “ that either Miss Brooks or the Wold House has done you an astonishing amount of good. In which case you can come with me in the car this morning and we ’ ll bring back a load of greenery with which to decorate this place in a suitably festive manner. I see you ’ ve already started on the hall, Miss Brooks, but we ’ ve much more to do than that. ”
She was surprised that he betrayed even so much enthusiasm for a task which she had been secretly certain he would either have held in a kind of abhorrence, or looked upon with condescending amusement so long as somebody else made themselves responsible for it. But upon reflection she decided that it was
“ Oh, yes! ” He made a slight, expressive face. “ I forgot she ’ s indulging in being an invalid again! Oh, well, in that case— ” He paused, looked at Melanie with a faint, regretful lift of one eyebrow, as well as one side of his always rather attractively crooked mouth, and shrugged his shoulders. “ In that case I ’ ll have my dinner on a tray in the library, to save you opening up the dining-room, Abbie, but I ’ d be glad of a whiskey and soda as soon as you can produce it. ”
“ Certainly, Mr. Richard. ”
He stooped and picked up Baxter, who settled with delighted purrs against his shoulder, and then walked with the masterful tread of one who knew himself to be the master in his own house towards the door of the library. But before he reached it he called over his shoulder to Melanie, “ Better get those wet shoes of yours changed, Miss Brooks. And give my devoted regards to my niece! ”
The message was ironical, as was the backward look which accompanied it, but Melanie answered simply—conscious of feeling rather like a highly inflated balloon which had received a sudden prick, “ Yes, Mr. Trenchard. ”
And then as he disappeared, airily casual once again—as she had known him on at least two or three occasions since they first became acquainted—and the library door closed firmly behind him, she moved slowly forward towards the stairs and ascended them under the eyes of the watching portraits with that unpleasant, deflated feeling keeping pace with her steps. For, although it was quite absurd, of course, she had so thoroughly enjoyed that short walk up the drive, and the conversation which had preceded it, and now—now only Baxter was permitted to accompany him into the library !
She quickened her steps and started to run up the stairs, for, after all, she had had the walk, and she must let Noel know her uncle had arrived. And but for Noel ’ s cold— the thought intruded—they would all three be dining downstairs in the dining-room and drinking a toast to the house in champagne!
The next day Richard Trenchard ’ s good humor continued, and he congratulated Melanie on Noel ’ s altered appearance, for her confinement to bed had been rather in the nature of a precautionary measure, and she was able to get up a nd join them for breakfast on the first morning that he had breakfast in his own wide-windowed, sun - flooded breakfast-room—which had nothing at all to do with the dining-room, and had once been a little oak-panelled parlor, and was conveniently close to the green-baize door to the kitchen.
Although the snow still held fast, the sky on this first morning of his visit was blue and inviting, and Noel ’ s jumper was blue and she wore a very well-cut tweed skirt. Her cheeks were fuller and her eyes clearer and her spun-gold hair hung down her back in two very thick and attractive braids. It was quite remarkable hair, and although she agitated continually to have it cut to a more fashionable length, Melanie hoped her uncle would withhold his sanction, and had tried winding it about her head in a coronet of plaits which suited her young and pensive face.
“ It seems to me, ” the owner of the house remarked, after studying his niece intently for several seconds after she entered the room, “ that either Miss Brooks or the Wold House has done you an astonishing amount of good. In which case you can come with me in the car this morning and we ’ ll bring back a load of greenery with which to decorate this place in a suitably festive manner. I see you ’ ve already started on the hall, Miss Brooks, but we ’ ve much more to do than that. ”
She was surprised that he betrayed even so much enthusiasm for a task which she had been secretly certain he would either have held in a kind of abhorrence, or looked upon with condescending amusement so long as somebody else made themselves responsible for it. But upon reflection she decided that it was
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