His heart went out to the stylish.
The slices of bread-and-butter were rolled up. There, now, was a
pleasing device! It cost nothing to roll up a slice of bread-and-butter
--her fingers had doubtless done the rolling--and yet it gave quite a
different taste to the food.
"What made you give that house to Mrs Hullins?" she asked him suddenly,
with a candour that seemed to demand candour.
"Oh," he said, "just a lark! I thought I would. It came to me all in a
second, and I did."
She shook her head. "Strange boy!" she observed.
There was a pause.
"It was something Charlie Fearns said, wasn't it?" she inquired.
She uttered the name "Charlie Fearns" with a certain faint hint of
disdain, as if indicating to Denry that of course she and Denry were
quite able to put Fearns into his proper place in the scheme of things.
"Oh!" he said. "So you know all about it?"
"Well," said she, "naturally it was all over the town. Mrs Fearns's
girl, Annunciata--what a name, eh?--is one of my pupils--the youngest,
in fact."
"Well," said he, after another pause, "I wasn't going to have Fearns
coming the duke over me!" She smiled sympathetically.
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