Page:The Other House (London, William Heinemann, 1896), Volume 2.djvu/131

Rh "A great deal. I should look better—shouldn't I?—if he hadn't. But I show you enough how little I care how I look. I blow hot and cold; I'm all there—then I'm off. No matter," she repeated. In a moment she added: "I accept your hopes for my happiness. It will do, no doubt, soon as I learn!" Her voice dropped for impatience; she turned to the quarter of the approach from the other house.

"That Effie's all right?" Tony saw their messenger already in the shrubbery. "Here comes Paul to tell us."

Mrs. Beever rejoined them as he spoke. "It wasn't Paul on the bridge. It was the Doctor—without his hat."

"Without his hat?" Rose murmured.

"He has it in his hand," Tony cheerfully asserted as their good friend emerged from cover.

But he hadn't it in his hand, and at sight of them on the top of the slope he stopped short, stopped long enough to give Rose time to call eagerly: "Is Effie there?"

It was long enough also to give them all time to see, across the space, that his hair was disordered