You nearly sent me wild the other day when you were
carrying on with Miss de la Molle--ah, yes, I saw it all--I have
suspected you for a long time, and sometimes I think that you are
really in love with her. And now, sir, I tell you what it is, we have
had enough of this melancholy talk to last me for a month. Why did you
come here at all this morning, just when I wanted to get you out of my
head for an hour or two and think about my garden? I suppose it was a
trick of Mr. Quest's bringing you here. He has got some fresh scheme
on, I am sure of it from his face. Well, it can't be helped, and,
since you are here, Mr. Edward Cossey, tell me how you like my new
dress," and she posed herself and courtesied before him. "Black, you
see, to match my sins and show off my complexion. Doesn't it fit
well?"
"Charmingly," he said, laughing in spite of himself, for he felt in no
laughing mood, "and now I tell you what it is, Belle, I am not going
to stop here all the morning, and lunch, and that sort of thing. It
does not look well, to say the least of it. The probability is that
half the old women in Boisingham have got their eyes fixed on the hall
door to see how long I stay. I shall go down to the office and come
back at half-past two."
"A very nice excuse to get rid of me," she said, "but I daresay you
are right, and I want to see about the garden.
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