United States or Kyrgyzstan ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
The strain appeared so terrific the consequences of a disaster so appalling. As Vane stepped out of the ambulance Lady Patterdale, supported on either side by one of the nursing staff, advanced to meet him. Her jolly old face was wreathed in smiles; cordiality and kindliness oozed from her. "Welcome, both of you," she cried. "Welcome to Rumfold 'all."
For a moment he stood motionless, staring into the cool shadows of the wood, while a curious smile played over his face. And may be, in spite of his derisive critic, who still croaked from the edge of the pool, his thoughts were not entirely centred on his proposed modest endeavour. Then with a short laugh he turned on his heel, and strode back towards Rumfold.
Quite a percentage had accepted, and it was after dinner, just before the guests were going, that the owner of a neighbouring house had inadvertently put his thoughts into words, not knowing that his host was within hearing. "It makes me positively sick to see that impossible little bounder strutting about round Rumfold." "Impossible little bounder."
It even seemed to regard such flippancy with a certain amount of suspicion; but then Medical Boards are things of some solemnity. . . . And so in the course of two or three days Vane drove up to the historic gates of Rumfold Hall in an ambulance. The house, situated in the heart of Surrey, was surrounded by extensive grounds.
"I think," she said, "that I had better resume my official duties. What do you think of Rumfold Hall?" "It would be hard in the time at my disposal, my dear young lady, to give a satisfactory answer to that question." Vane lit a cigarette.
He read it through once at breakfast, and then, with a thoughtful look in his eyes, he took it with him to a chair on the big verandah which ran along the whole of the front of Rumfold Hall. The awning above it had been specially erected for the benefit of the patients and Vane pulled one of the lounge chairs back from the stone balustrade, so that his face was shaded from the sun.
She threw off her fit of depression and chatted gaily all the way up to the house. "I've told Dad you're a very serious young man," she remarked, as they reached the drive; "so you'd better live up to your reputation." Vane groaned. "Your sins be upon your own head," he remarked. "I've already had one serious dissertation this morning from old John, who used to be lodgekeeper at Rumfold."
Unconsciously the old man's eyes strayed in the direction of Rumfold Hall, and he sighed. "You can't alter the ways of the Lord, sir," continued old John. As long as everybody remembers which class he's in, he'll get what happiness he deserves. . . ." Vane did not feel inclined to dispute this from the point of view of Holy Writ.
Why, the man's an offence to the eye. He's a complete outsider. What right has he got to be at Rumfold?" "The right of having invented a patent plate. And if one looks at it from an unbiassed point of view it seems almost as good a claim as that of the descendant of a really successful brigand chief." "Are you a Socialist?" she demanded suddenly. "God knows what I am," he answered cynically.
Assuredly this common old woman possessed in her some spark of the understanding which is almost Divine. . . . And Vane, with a quick flash of insight, saw the proud planting of the pin on Rumfold Hall a strategic advance, but the casualty list had never been published. . . . He strolled along the veranda and into the hall.
Word Of The Day