Page:The Fruit of the Tree (Wharton 1907).djvu/53

Rh the Hempstead plains—to everything, in short, that made it conceivably worth while to get up in the morning.

The servant who ushered in Amherst, thinking the room empty, had not mentioned his name; and for a moment he and his hostess examined each other in silence, Bessy puzzled at the unannounced appearance of a good-looking young man who might have been some one she had met and forgotten, while Amherst felt his self-possession slipping away into the depths of a pair of eyes so dark-lashed and deeply blue that his only thought was one of wonder at his previous indifference to women’s eyes.

“Mrs. Westmore?” he asked, restored to self-command by the perception that his longed-for opportunity was at hand; and Bessy, his voice conﬁrming the inference she had drawn from his appearance, replied with a smile: “I am Mrs. Westmore. But if you have come to see me, I ought to tell you that in a moment I shall be obliged to go out to our mills. I have a business appointment with our manager, but if"

She broke off, gracefully waiting for him to insert his explanation.

“I have come from the manager; I am John Amherst—your assistant manager,” he added, as the mention of his name apparently conveyed no enlightenment.

Mrs. <estmore’s face changed, and she let slip a [ 41 ]