Her maid hurried out of the kitchen, and a moment later she heard a man's
voice exclaim: "Will you kindly give this note to Miss Pendarth? I will
return for the answer in about an hour."
Miss Pendarth knew the voice, and, stepping out of her morning room, she
called out: "Come in just for a few minutes, Mr. Radmore."
In the old days she had always called him "Godfrey," but when Timmy had
brought him to call within a day or two of his return to Beechfield, she
had used the formal mode of address.
Radmore had to obey her, willy-nilly, and as he came down the hall
towards her, she was struck by the keenness and intelligence of his
dark face. She told herself grudgingly that he had certainly improved
amazingly, at any rate in outward appearance, during the last ten years.
"Do let us go into your garden," he said courteously. "I hear that you
are still Mrs. Tosswill's only rival!"
She softened, in spite of herself. The Godfrey Radmore of ten years ago
would not have thought of saying such a civil, pleasant thing.
They walked through the glass door, and proceeded in silence down the
path. The herbaceous borders were in fuller beauty than anything the Old
Place garden could now show, but Radmore paid no further compliment, and
it was she who broke the silence.
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