He could not now think of the
room without her. She had become in this short time so markedly its
presiding spirit. 'Let there be order and beauty!' she had said,
instead of dirt and confusion; and the order and beauty were there.
But the presiding spirit was now surveying him, with eyes that
seemed to have been watchfully withdrawn, under puckered brows.
'I don't understand,' said Elizabeth. 'You have fastened up the
gates?'
'I have,' said the Squire jocularly. 'Mrs. Perley believes the
Committee will bring a tank! That would be a sight worth seeing.'
'You really want to stop them from ploughing up that land?'
'I do. I have offered them other land.'
Elizabeth hesitated.
'Don't you believe what the Government say, Mr. Mannering?'
'What do they say?'
'That everything depends upon whether we shall have food enough to
hold out? That we can't win the war unless we can grow more food
ourselves?'
'That's the Government's affair.' The Squire sat down at his own
table and began to look out a pen.
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