To the surprise of both of them,
he sat down abruptly in the corner, with his face to the wall, and took
up the newspaper, without casting a look at them or uttering a word.
"Is Joseph safe at the vicarage?" asked Miss Lavinia.
"All right." He gave the answer in a short, surly tone, still without
looking round.
Miss Lavinia tried him again. "Did you hear a whistle while you were
out? It quite startled Natalie in the stillness of this place."
He turned half-way round. "My shepherd, I suppose," he said after
a pause--"whistling for his dog." He turned back again and immersed
himself in his newspaper.
Miss Lavinia beckoned to her niece and pointed significantly to
Turlington. After one reluctant look at him, Natalie laid her head
wearily on her aunt's shoulder. "Sleepy, my dear?" whispered the old
lady. "Uneasy, aunt--I don't know why," Natalie whispered back. "I would
give the world to be in London, and to hear the carriages going by, and
the people talking in the street."
Turlington suddenly dropped his newspaper.
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