"
"You dear man!" she exclaimed, with a sudden smile, a smile of entire
and sweet friendliness. "I like the thought of your doing that. It is
something to know that one is welcome, when one breaks away from the
routine of one's life, as I have."
"Tell me why you have done it?" he asked.
She looked back into the fire.
"Everything was going a little wrong," she explained. "One of my
farmers was troublesome, and the snow has stopped work and hunting. We
lost thirty of our best ewes last week. I found I was getting out of
temper with everybody and everything, so I suddenly remembered that I
had an empty house here and came up."
"To the city of adventures," he murmured.
She shrugged her shoulders.
"London has never seemed like that to me. I find it generally a very
ugly and a very sordid place, where I am hedged in with relatives,
generally wanting me to do the thing I loathe.--You have really no news
for me, then?"
"None, except that I am glad to see you."
"When will you come and have a long talk?"
"Will you dine with me to-morrow night?" he begged eagerly.
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