Dawson pick him up?"
"Oh, he came here with the very best testimonials, and father
engaged him on the spot," answered Ella, touching her wrists
thoughtfully. "He certainly is not very handsome, but then that
doesn't matter, does it?"
She spoke more loudly than usual, and Dunn was certain she did so
in order that he might hear what she said. So he had no scruple
in lingering on pretence of being busy with a rose bush, and heard
Clive say:
"Well, if he were one of my chaps, I should tell him to put the
lawn-mower over his own face."
Ella laughed amusedly.
"Oh, what an idea, Mr. Clive," she cried, and Dunn thought to himself:
"Yes, one day I shall very certainly claim that fifty pounds."
CHAPTER XII
AN AVOWAL
When Clive had gone that afternoon, Ella, who had accompanied him
as far as the gate, and had from thence waved him a farewell, came
back to the spot where Dunn was working.
She stood still, watching him, and he looked up at her and then
went on with his work without speaking, for now, as always, the
appalling thought was perpetually in his mind: "Must she not have
known what it was she had with her in the car when she went driving
that night?"
After a little, she turned away, as if disappointed that he took no
notice of her presence.
At once he raised himself from the task he had been bending over,
and stood moodily watching the slim, graceful figure, about which
hung such clouds of doubt and dread, and she, turning around
suddenly, as if she actually felt the impact of his gaze, saw him,
and saw the strange expression in his eyes.
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