The
mating of two human beings was the subject uppermost in her mind, and the
opportunity for advancing her pet project was too valuable to be
neglected.
"Teresa," she exclaimed impressively, "after those two young people have
been thrown together so dramatically, nothing can be quite the same again
between them. Bertie has done more than save Dora's life; he has earned
her affection. One cannot help feeling that Fate has consecrated them
for one another."
"Exactly what the vicar's wife said when Bertie saved Sybil from the elk
a year or two ago," observed Teresa placidly; "I pointed out to her that
he had rescued Mirabel Hicks from the same predicement a few months
previously, and that priority really belonged to the gardener's boy, who
had been rescued in the January of that year. There is a good deal of
sameness in country life, you know."
"It seems to be a very dangerous animal," said one of the guests.
"That's what the mother of the gardener's boy said," remarked Teresa;
"she wanted me to have it destroyed, but I pointed out to her that she
had eleven children and I had only one elk. I also gave her a black silk
skirt; she said that though there hadn't been a funeral in her family she
felt as if there had been. Anyhow, we parted friends. I can't offer you
a silk skirt, Emily, but you may have another cup of tea. As I have
already remarked, there are muffins in the grate."
Teresa dosed the discussion, having deftly conveyed the impression that
she considered the mother of the gardener's boy had shown a far more
reasonable spirit than the parents of other elk-assaulted victims.
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