All the time she was saying this David was winking to her, and making
faces to her not to go on that tack. His conduct now explained his
pantomime. "Here, youngster," said he, "you take these things
in-doors, and here is your half-crown."
Lucy averted her head, and smiled unobserved.
As soon as the lad was out of hearing, David continued: "It was not
worth while to mortify him. The fact is, I hired him to carry it; but,
bless you, the first mile he began to go down by the head, and would
have foundered; so we shifted our cargoes." This amused Kenealy, who
laughed good-humoredly. On this, David laughed for company.
"There," cried his inamorata, with rapture, "that is Mr. Dodd all
over; thinks of everybody, high or low, before himself." There was a
grunt somewhere behind her; her quick ear caught it; she turned round
like a thing on a pivot, and slapped the nearest face. It happened to
be Fountain's; so she continued with such a treacle smile, "Don't you
remember, sir, how he used to teach your cub mathematics gratis?" The
sweet smile and the keen contemporaneous scratch confounded Mr.
Fountain for a second. As soon as he revived he said stiffly, "We can
all appreciate Mr. Dodd."
Having thus established her Adonis on a satisfactory footing, she
broke out all over graciousness again, and, smiling and chatting, led
her guests beneath the hospitable roof.
But one of these guests did not respond to her cheerful strain. The
Norman knight was full of bitterness.
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