Page:The Strange Case of Miss Annie Spragg (1928).djvu/235

 late Duke. Indeed Mr. Blundon had gone to the funeral and then came to Narkworth House for lunch. And a very changed Mr. Blundon he was from the last time she had seen him. He was even cheerful and happy. And after lunch he had taken 'er Gryce aside and told her what had happened to him and how it was a Mr. and Mrs. Winnery who had taken an interest in him and helped him when his own family had cast him out. (Not that Mrs. Winnery must think the worse of the dear Duke. He was a good man but hard. The Blundons were all hard. And Mr. Blundon had given him, as the head of the family, a great deal of trouble.) So she had come to thank Mrs. Winnery for what she had been doing all these years. If the dear Duke hadn't been in his grave he would have come too, out of thankfulness for seeing Mr. Blundon such a changed creature.

Bessie said that what she'd done was nothing and that it had given her and Mr. Winnery great pleasure and that they were very fond of Mr. Blundon and couldn't have got on without him.

'Er Gryce said that now it was arranged for Mr. Blundon to live in the dower house at Narkworth and go on with his writing. He had told her that he was at work on a book which he would have finished shortly and would publish. He had been reticent about it. Did Mrs. Winnery know what it was about?

No, Bessie said, it was, she supposed, just a book. But it was really too bad about Mr. Blundon going to live at Narkworth. She'd miss having him there in Bloomsbury. It would be a hole in her life. 