"Oh," said Sadie, answering the mute query, "I didn't want to be 'shown
round' by anybody, and I'm not going to bore YOU with asking to see
sights either. We'll just walk together; wherever YOU'RE going is good
enough for me."
"I'm going as far as the village," said Miss Amelyn, looking down
doubtfully at Sadie's smart French shoes--"if you care to walk so far."
Sadie noticed that her companion was more solidly booted, and that
her straight, short skirts, although less stylish than her own, had
a certain character, better fitted to the freer outdoor life of the
country. But she only said, however, "The village will do," and gayly
took her companion's arm.
"But I'm afraid you'll find it very uninteresting, for I am going to
visit some poor cottages," persisted Miss Amelyn, with a certain
timid ingenuousness of manner which, however, was as distinct as Miss
Desborough's bolder frankness. "I promised the rector's daughter to take
her place to-day."
"And I feel as if I was ready to pour oil and wine to any extent," said
Miss Desborough, "so come along!"
Miss Amelyn laughed, and yet glanced around her timidly, as if she
thought that Miss Desborough ought to have a larger and more important
audience. Then she continued more confidentially and boldly, "But it
isn't at all like 'slumming,' you know. These poor people here are not
very bad, and are not at all extraordinary."
"Never mind," said Sadie, hurrying her along. After a pause she went on,
"You know the Priory very well, I guess?"
"I lived there when I was a little girl, with my aunt, the Dowager Lady
Beverdale," said Miss Amelyn. "When my cousin Fred, who was the young
heir, died, and the present Lord Beverdale succeeded,--HE never expected
it, you know, for there were two lives, his two elder brothers, besides
poor Fred's, between, but they both died,--we went to live in the Dower
House."
"The Dower House?" repeated Sadie.
"Yes, Lady Beverdale's separate property."
"But I thought all this property--the Priory--came into the family
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