The Ffolliots of Redmarley | Page 9

eyes again to the serenely unconscious profile presented to his view: a very finished profile with nothing smudgy or uncertain about it. The little nose was high-bridged and decided, the red lips full and shut closely together, the upper short and deeply cleft in the centre.
He was just thinking that, in spite of his muddy hat, he would rather like her to look at him again, when she turned her large gaze upon him with the question:
"Were you preaching just before you fell down?"
He flushed hotly. "Certainly not--did it sound like . . . that?"
"Well, I wasn't sure. I thought if you were a curate trying a sermon you'd have said 'brethren,' but 'fellow men' would do, you know; and then I heard something about the 'house of the Lord,' and I was sure you must be a sucking parson; but when I came up I wasn't so sure. What were you saying over, if it wasn't a sermon?"
"It was stupid of me . . . but I do a good deal of public speaking, and I never dreamt anyone was within miles . . ."
"Oh, a speech, was it? Where are you going to speak it?"
"I shall probably address a meeting in Marlehouse to-morrow night."
"Why?"
"Because I've been asked to do so."
"Will it be in the paper on Saturday?"
"Probably."
"How grand; do tell me your name, then I can look for your speech. I'd love to read it and see if you begin with the bit I heard about fellow men and the house of the Lord."
"The House of Lords," he corrected.
"Oh," said the girl. "Them! It's them you're against. I was afraid you objected to churches."
"I don't care much for churches, either," he observed, gloomily. "Do you?"
"I've really never thought about it," she confessed. "One's supposed to like them . . . they're good things, surely?"
"Institutions must be judged by their actual utility; their adaptability to present needs. Traditional benefits can no longer be accepted as a reason for the support of any particular cause."
"I think," she said, "that the mud on your clothes is drying. It will probably brush off quite nicely."
Had he ever read Alice in Wonderland he might have remembered what preceded the Caucus Race. But he never had, so he merely thought that she was singularly frivolous and irrelevant.
"You haven't told me your name," she continued, "so that I can look for that speech. We're nearly home, and I'll hand you over to Heaven so that he can make you tidy for your call."
"My name is E. A. Gallup," he replied, shortly.
"Up or op?" she asked.
"Up," he replied, wishing to heaven it weren't.
"Mine's M. B. Ffolliot, two 'fs' and two 'ls'. We live here, you know."
"I guessed you were a Miss Ffolliot. In fact, I may say I knew it."
"Everyone knows us about here," she said sadly. "That's the worst of it. You can never get out of anything you've done."
E. A. Gallup looked surprised, but as she was again gazing into space she did not observe him.
"Whenever hay's trampled, or pheasants startled, or gates left open, or pigs chased, or turkeys furious, they always say, 'It's them varmints of young Ffolliots.'"
"Do you know," he said, and his grave face suddenly broke into a most boyish grin, "I believe even I have heard something of the kind."
"If you live anywhere within six miles of Redmarley you'll hear little else, and it isn't always us . . . though it is generally. This stupid gate's locked. We'll have to get over. It's easiest to do it like this."
"This" was to go back a few paces, run forward, put her hands on the top and vault the gate as a boy vaults a "gym" horse. E. A. Gallup did not attempt to follow suit. He climbed over, clumsily enough, dropping his stick on the wrong side. When he had recovered it, he raised his muddy hat with a sweep. "I see we are in a road of some sort, perhaps you will kindly direct me to the village, and I will not trouble . . . er . . . Mr Heaven----"
"But much the nearest way to the village is down our front drive. And we pass the stables to go to it."
"I couldn't think of intruding in your drive. Have the goodness to direct me."
"But the woods are ours just as much as the drive; where's the difference? In fact, we'd rather have people walk in the drive because of the pheasants."
"There is a difference, though it may not be apparent to you . . . if I follow this road, do I come to the village?"
"Don't be silly," she said shortly. "If you prefer to be all over mud there's no more to be said, but I can't direct you any more than I've done. If