Cynthia had relapsed into gloom. "It doesn't matter in the least,"
she murmured.

"It's Beaumaroy!" said Mary in triumph.

"I don't wonder you couldn't remember that!"




CHAPTER II

THE GENERAL REMEMBERS


Amongst other various, and no doubt useful, functions, Miss Delia Wall
performed that of gossip and news agent-general to the village of
Inkston. A hard-featured, swarthy spinster of forty, with a roving,
inquisitive, yet not unkindly eye, she perambulated--or rather
percycled--the district, taking stock of every incident. Not a cat could
kitten or a dog have the mange without her privity; critics of her mental
activity went near to insinuating connivance. Naturally, therefore, she
was well acquainted with the new development at Tower Cottage, although
the isolated position of that dwelling made thorough observation
piquantly difficult. She laid her information before an attentive, if not
very respectful, audience gathered round the tea-table at Old Place, the
Naylors' handsome house on the outskirts of Sprotsfield and on the far
side of the heath from Inkston. She was enjoying herself, although she
was, as usual, a trifle distrustful of the quality of Mr. Naylor's smile;
it smacked of the satiric. "He looks at you as if you were a specimen,"