A moment of staring consternation ensued, and nervous Mrs. Gum
looked ready to faint. The two women disappeared indoors, and Mirrable
turned homewards at a brisk pace. But she was not to go on without an
interruption. Pike's head suddenly appeared above the hurdles, and he
began inquiring after her health. "Toothache gone?" asked he.
"Yes," she said, answering straightforwardly in her surprise. "How did
you know I had toothache?" It was not the first time by several he had
thus accosted her; and to give her her due, she was always civil to him.
Perhaps she feared to be otherwise.
"I heard of it. And so my Lord Hartledon's like a man with some dreadful
care upon him!" he went on. "What is the care?"
"You have been eavesdropping!" she angrily exclaimed.
"Not a bit of it. I was seated under the hedge with my pipe, and you
three women began talking. I didn't tell you to. Well, what's his
lordship's care?"
"Just mind your own business, and his lordship will mind his," she
retorted. "You'll get interfered with in a way you won't like, Pike, one
of these days, unless you mend your manners."
"A great care on him," nodded Pike to himself, looking after her, as she
walked off in her anger. "A great care! _I_ know. One of these fine days,
my lord, I may be asking you questions about it on my own score. I might
long before this, but for--"
The sentence broke off abruptly, and ended with a growl at things in
general.
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