The Black Benedicts by Anita Charles Page A

been a child ’ s nursery and discovered an old rocking-chair which she misused very happily for several minutes.
    The garden had once been laid out very attractively, but was now mostly given over to weeds. Mallory stood looking down at the face of an old sundial and traced the inscription upon it with the tip of her little finger.
    “ Gather ye rosebuds while ye may ... ”
    The usual inscription, and the usual injunction to make the most of life that is all too fleeting ... !
    “ I thought, ” said Adrian, beside her, “ of having something done to this place—of having it put into order again ...”
    “ It would be a good idea, ” Mallory replied rather absent-mindedly, for she was studying the shadow cast by the declining sun and trying to work out the time of day without consulting her own watch. “ A very good idea ... ”
    “ You think so? ”
    His eyes were on her face, with its fair skin and its clear colour, her feathery-light eyebrows, that she darkened a little, although her eyelashes were exactly as nature intended them, long and much darker than her eyebrows, and dusted at the tips with something which looked like gold-dust. The way her soft hair, growing out of its short cut, turned upwards on the nape of her neck fascinated him.
    “ Oh, yes—oh, yes, of course I do! ” She suddenly realized that he was talking to her seriously, and roused herself to return serious answers. “ It ’ s a beautiful old house, and if it belonged to me I wouldn ’ t let it remain like this for another day. At least, I ’ d start doing all I could to restore it with as little delay as possible. Why, there must be hundreds of people in the world who would go quite crazy about a place like this ... ”
    “ I did think of selling it at one time, ” he admitted.
    “ But why should you sell it? Your own house—an enchanting old house in an absolutely perfect setting! Do you realize that this would be a kind of house agents ’ dream, particularly if there is any land going with it . .. ? ”
    “ There is q ui te a lot of land, but some of it is leased to neighbouring farmers. Even so, there are still a good m any acres which actually go with the house, and could be p u t to quite profitable use. ”
    “ Have you ever thought of making use of them yourself? ” she inquired.
    “ What, farming, you mean? ”
    “ Yes, farming. With someone to do the actual work, of course—but it would still be an interest ... ”
    “ It would, ” he agreed, and she could see that the germ of an idea had been born in his head. “ It certainly would .” He looked at her again, his dark eyes lightenin g . “ Miss Gower, do you like living in the country? ”
    “ I love it, ” she confessed.
    “ Even in such an isolated spot as this? ”
    “ I think an isolated spot is more attractive than a densely populated one ... ” She paused. Something in the way he was looking at her made her suddenly decide to proceed a trifle more cautiously. It was not impossible, of course, that h e could find her rather attractive, but if he did—she wouldn ’ t ever want to hurt him. No man who had been hurt as he had been hurt—once—must ever be hurt again ... !
    She said rather quickly:
    “ I ’ m so sorry, but I ’ ve suddenly remembered I ’ m going out to supper to-night with the Hardings. Do you think we could get back now? I don ’ t want to be late ...”
    “ Of course not, ” he agreed at once, and led the way out to the car.
    But when they had collected Serena and Belinda and were actually on their way back to Morven, Adrian Benedict still appeared much more cheerful than those who knew him well were accustomed to seeing him. And he was burning over in his mind schemes for the restoration of the White Cottage.
    Mallory just had time to effect a few necessary alterations to her appearance before setting out to walk the not very considerable distance to the doctor ’ s house in the village. It was a lovely evening, as it had