"I suppose I am decorative," she said blandly.

"You're bewitching. What instinct made you choose that shade of pale
green for your frock? If I had seen it in the pattern I should have said
it was impossible for your colouring. But now it seems to be the only
perfect thing you could wear."

She laughed her little laugh of pleasure, and thanked him prettily for
the compliment. They bandied gay words for a while.

"Oh, I'm so glad you have come down--even for this short visit," said
Viviette at last. "I was pining for talk, for wit, for a breath of the
great world beyond these sleepy meadows. You bring all that with you."

Austin leaned forward. "How do you know I'm not bringing even more?"

The girl's eyes drooped before his gaze. Then she fluttered a glance at
him in which there was a gleam of mockery.

"You bring the most valuable gift of all--appreciation of my frocks. I
love people to notice them. Now Dick is frock-blind. Why is that?"

"He's a dear old duffer," said Austin.

"I don't think he's happy," said Viviette, who, in her feminine way, had
worked round to the subject of the interview.

"He did seem rather cut up about the stables," Austin admitted. "But the
things are an eyesore, and mother was worrying herself to death
about them."