me to the massive gates of
Court Leys. An avenue of elms led to the house.

'Here we are,' said Lucy, breaking the long silence.

'Already?' He seemed to shake himself. 'I have to thank you for a
pleasant stroll, and we've had a good talk, haven't we?'

'Have we?' she laughed. She saw his look of surprise. 'For two hours
you've not vouchsafed to make an observation.'

'I'm so sorry,' he said, reddening under his tan. 'How rude you must
have thought me! I've been alone so much that I've got out of the way of
behaving properly.'

'It doesn't matter at all,' she smiled. 'You must talk to me another
time.'

She was subtly flattered. She felt that, for him, it was a queer kind-of
compliment that he had paid her. Their silent walk, she did not know
why, seemed to have created a bond between them; and it appeared that he
felt it, too, for afterwards he treated her with a certain intimacy. He
seemed to look upon her no longer as an acquaintance, but as a friend.

* * *

A day or two later, Mrs. Crowley having suggested that they should drive
into Tercanbury to see the cathedral, MacKenzie asked her if she would
allow him to walk.

He turned to Lucy.

'I hardly dare to ask if you will come with me,' he said.

'It would please me immensely.'

'I will try to behave better than last time.'

'You need not,' she smiled.

Dick, who had an objection to walking when it was possible to drive, set
out with Mrs. Crowley in a trap. Alec waited for Lucy. She went round to
the stable to fetch a dog to accompany them, and, as she came towards
him, he looked at her. Alec was a man to whom most of his fellows were
abstractions. He saw them and talked to them, noting their
peculiarities, but they were seldom living persons to him. They were
shadows, as it were, that had to be reckoned with, but they never became
part of himself. And it came upon him now with a certain shock of
surprise to notice Lucy. He felt suddenly a new interest in her. He
seemed to see her for the first time, and her rare beauty strangely
moved him. In her serge dress and her gauntlets, with a motor cap and a
flowing veil, a stick in her hand, she seemed on a sudden to express the
country through which for the last two or three days he had wandered. He
felt an unexpected pleasure in her slim erectness and in her buoyant
step. There was something very charming in her blue eyes.

He was seized with a great desire to talk. And, without thinking for an
instan