nd."

The impression was subtle, but it confirmed, more than anything that had
yet happened, my certainty of Jenny's answer. I had further confirmation
the next moment. He stood on the edge of the terrace, his arm through
his son's, and looked over the view.

"A fine position!" he said. "If it had been the fashion to build on the
top of a hill three centuries ago, we should have put the house here, I
suppose, instead of selling to the Dormers. It was part of our land
originally, you know, Mr. Austin." He pulled himself up with a laugh. "A
feudal lord's reminiscences! We do well enough if we can keep what we've
got nowadays--without regretting what we used to have. Come along,
Amyas, or your aunt will have given us up for tea!"

He had sought to correct the impression he had given--to withdraw the
idea implicit in his words about Breysgate Priory; yet the withdrawal
seemed formal, made in deference to an obligation rather than really
effective or important. I was sure that, as he trod Breysgate park that
evening, he trod the soil as, in his own mind, already part of the
Fillingford domains. The most reserved of men cannot but tell something;
only a god or a brute, as the philosopher has it, can be absolutely
unrevealing. If Fillingford could have succeeded in attaining to
that--and I have no doubt that he tried--his son would have spoiled the
mystery. Familiarity taught him to read more clearly his father's
visage. His face beamed with exultation; as he had "wished the governor
luck with all his heart," now, without question, the moment I was out of
hearing, he wished him joy.

I went in to Jenny, without stopping to think whether she had bidden me
come or not. I could not keep away; it even seemed to be something like
hypocrisy to keep away now on the pretext that I had not been expressly
summoned. She had told me that she liked me to stay--as "somebody to
catch her if she fell." That was, surely, at least a permission to be
near her?

She was alone, save for Loft who was setting out the tea-tray in his
usual deft, speedy, deliberate way. She sat in the middle of the sofa,
looking straight in front of her. But she spoke to me directly I came
in, while Loft and the footman were still in the room.

"You've just missed Lord Fillingford. Or did you see him as he went
away?

"Yes, I met him and had a little talk with him. Young Lacey's been
gossiping with me most of the afternoon."

Loft must have wanted to hear, b