The Blue Diamond by Annie Haynes Page B

anything! The rest—ah, surely the rest will come soon, will it not, Mr. Davenant?”
    Sir Arthur had joined the group at the piano.
    â€œAre you so tired of us then?” Davenant heard him whisper under cover of rearranging the music; he caught too the upward look with which she rewarded the speech, and his face darkened.
    But Hilda had appealed to him.
    â€œOh, yes. I feel quite sure that your memory will be as good as ever in a very short time,” he said as he looked across the room. “Mavis, do you remember you promised to be kind to me this morning? I want you to walk as for as the village with me. Will you?”
    Mavis hesitated a moment, but a glance at his anxious face decided her. She caught up the coat and hat she had thrown down a few minutes before and put them on.
    â€œDon’t say that I keep you waiting. You will not mind if I take the dogs—they are waiting for me in the hall.”
    Outside the air was fresh, in spite of the heat; rain had fallen heavily during the preceding night, and the storm had served to clear the air; the dogs gambolled round joyfully.
    Mavis lifted up her face appreciatively and drew a deep breath.
    â€œHow charming everything smells! We will go by the Home Coppice and across the footpath that brings us out near the Wishing Well. It is the nearest way, and it will be delightfully cool this morning. What do you think of Hilda, Garth?”
    â€œShe is very beautiful.”
    Mavis laughed as, screened from the house by the trees, she tucked her arm under his.
    â€œCertainly, anyone can see that, stupid boy! I mean, how do you like her? Is she not perfectly delightful?”
    Garth hesitated; he looked away from the gay, piquante face of the girl at his side into the green, leafy depths of the Home Coppice.
    Mavis gave his arm a little shake.
    â€œIf you let your mind stray to your briefs when you are with me, sir, I shall turn back. Why do you not answer my question?”
    â€œWell, I paused,” Garth said reluctantly, “because I am afraid my answer, if I speak truthfully, will not please you, Mavis, and—”
    â€œWhat do you mean?” Mavis asked, looking at him in astonishment. “Surely you do not mean that you do not like Hilda?—Oh, Garth, and she is so sweet and lovable!”
    Garth pulled his moustache perplexedly.
    â€œI don’t trust her,” he said slowly at last. “To my mind there is something about her that does not ring true, but I think she is a capital actress, Mavis.”
    Mavis drew her hand from his arm.
    â€œWhat do you mean?” she said coldly. “Garth, it is not like you to be so suspicious, and when you know how fond I am of Hilda—”
    â€œAh, don’t you see that is just what makes me so anxious, because you are brought into daily contact with her?” Garth interrupted. “Mavis, you know I never liked the idea of this girl staying on at the Manor in the way she’s doing for an indefinite length of time, and now that I have seen her—”
    â€œWell, now that you have seen her—” Mavis repeated in displeased accents.
    â€œI dislike that idea more than ever,” Garth finished. “I think I could give a pretty good guess at her object in coming to you, Mavis. I wondered to-day whether you were all blind but myself. If Lady Laura were to take the course I should advise, and send her to the seaside with a nurse or an elderly woman to look after her, I would guarantee that the young lady would soon recover her memory.”
    Mavis came to a sudden stop in the middle of the pathway.
    â€œWhich is as much as to say you think that she has not lost it at all—that she is pretending and deceiving us all!” she cried indignantly. “Oh, Garth, I did not think you would be so uncharitable!”
    Garth looked down at her flushed face tenderly.
    â€œI can’t help having my own opinion, Mavis. Her pleasure in finding she