Page:Fletcher--Where Highways Cross.djvu/161

 Mally," he answered. "Anything—I'm not particular."

"No," said Mally, contemptuously. "I reckon not. That's how men talk. Owt'll do, of course. Now then go in and sit you down, out o' t' way, and t' dinner'll be ready i' ten minutes."

Hepworth laughed and left the kitchen. But instead of going into the parlour as the old woman bade him, he passed through the house and taking a key from his pocket unlocked the door of a room looking out upon the garden and the paddock. The blinds were drawn over the old-fashioned windows, and he went across and drew them up and then turned and looked about him. He hummed a tune as he looked, and presently began to stride up and down, eyeing first one object and then another and still humming merrily.

Until recently the room in which Hepworth stood had never been in use. The old-fashioned life which he and his mother lived