Page:HG Wells--secret places of the heart.djvu/141

Rh culty, it would seem, in readjusting his mind to the comparative innocence of Anthony, and Sir Richmond and the young lady on the rock sought as if by common impulse to establish a general conversation. There were faint traces of excitement in her manner, as though there had been some controversial passage between herself and the family gentleman.

“We were discussing the age of this old place,” she said, smiling in the frankest and friendliest way. “How old do you think it is?”

The father of Anthony intervened, also with a shadow of controversy in his manner. “I was explaining to the young lady that it dates from the early bronze age. Before chronology existed.... But she insists on dates.”

“Nothing of bronze has ever been found here,” said Sir Richmond.

“Well, when was this early bronze age, anyhow?” said the young lady.

Sir Richmond sought a recognizable datum. “Bronze got to Britain somewhere between the times of Moses and Solomon.”

“Ah!” said the young lady, as who should say, ‘This man at least talks sense.’

“But these stones are all shaped,” said the father of the family. “It is difficult to see how that could have been done without something harder than stone.”