"
"Came into the garden to talk to you?" repeated Mrs. Hamlyn. "What did
she talk about?"
"Chiefly about Master Walter, ma'am. She seemed to be much taken with
him; she clasped him in her arms and kissed him, and said how old was
he, and was he difficult to manage, and that he had his father's
beautiful brown eyes--"
Penelope stopped abruptly. Mistaking the hard stare her mistress was
unconsciously giving her for one of displeasure, she hastened to excuse
herself. The fact was, Mrs. Hamlyn's imagination was beginning to run
riot.
"I couldn't help her speaking to me, ma'am, or her kissing the child;
she took me by surprise. That, was all she said--except that she asked
whether you were likely to be going into the country soon, away from the
house here. She didn't stay five minutes with us, but went back to stand
by the railings again."
"Did she speak as a lady or as a common person?" quite fiercely demanded
Mrs. Hamlyn. "Is she young?--good-looking?"
"Oh, I think she is a lady," replied the girl, her accent decisive. "And
she's young, as far as I could see, but she had a thick veil over her
face.
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