Anyhow, she is still the jolly Coulterneb girl.
The buzzards successfully reared two young ones, which were shot by a
local hairdresser.
THE STAKE
"Ronnie is a great trial to me," said Mrs. Attray plaintively. "Only
eighteen years old last February and already a confirmed gambler. I am
sure I don't know where he inherits it from; his father never touched
cards, and you know how little I play--a game of bridge on Wednesday
afternoons in the winter, for three-pence a hundred, and even that I
shouldn't do if it wasn't that Edith always wants a fourth and would be
certain to ask that detestable Jenkinham woman if she couldn't get me. I
would much rather sit and talk any day than play bridge; cards are such a
waste of time, I think. But as to Ronnie, bridge and baccarat and poker-
patience are positively all that he thinks about. Of course I've done my
best to stop it; I've asked the Norridrums not to let him play cards when
he's over there, but you might as well ask the Atlantic Ocean to keep
quiet for a crossing as expect them to bother about a mother's natural
anxieties."
"Why do you let him go there?" asked Eleanor Saxelby.
"My dear," said Mrs. Attray, "I don't want to offend them. After all,
they are my landlords and I have to look to them for anything I want done
about the place; they were very accommodating about the new roof for the
orchid house. And they lend me one of their cars when mine is out of
order; you know how often it gets out of order.
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