Part 27 (2/2)
”Ordinary people; but he shoots. He is a first-cla.s.s shot.”
”Heriot! It reminds me----” t.i.ta grows silent a moment, and now a little flood of colour warms her face. ”I have someone I want to ask, after all,” cries she. ”A cousin--Tom Hescott.”
”A cousin?”
”Yes. And he has a sister--Minnie Hescott. I should like to ask them both.” She looks at him. ”They are quite presentable,” says she whimsically.
”Your cousins should be, naturally,” says he.
Yet his heart sinks. What sort of people are these Hescotts?
”I have not seen them for years,” says t.i.ta--”never since I lived with my father. Tom used to be with us always then, but he went abroad.”
”To Australia?”
”Oh no--to Rome! To Rome first, at all events; he was going to India after that.”
”For----”
”Nothing--nothing at all. Just to see the world!”
”He must have had a good deal of money!”
”More than was good for him, I often heard. But I _did_ like Tom; and I heard he was in town last week, and Minnie with him, and I should like very much indeed to ask them here.”
”Well, scribble down their names.”
”I dare say they won't come,” says t.i.ta, writing.
”Why?”
”Oh, because they know such lots of people. However, I'll try them, any way.” She flings down her pencil. ”There, that's done; and now I shall go and have a ride before luncheon.”
”You have been riding all the morning!”
”Yes.”
”Do you never get tired?”
”Never! Come and see if I do.”
”Well, I'll come,” says Rylton.
_”Really!”_ cries t.i.ta; her eyes grow very bright. ”You mean it?”
”Certainly I do. It is my place, you know, to see that you don't overdo it.”
”Oh, how delightful!” says she, clasping her hands. ”I hate riding alone. We'll go right over the downs, and back of Scart Hill, and so home. Come on--come on,” running out of the room; ”don't be a minute dressing.”
<script>