'You know Pamela's in town?'
'Yes, with Margaret Strang. I'm going to dine there to-night. How's
the new agent getting on?'
Aubrey smiled.
'Which?--the man--or the lady?'
'Miss Bremerton, of course. I got a most interesting letter from her
a fortnight ago. Do you know that she herself has discovered nearly
a thousand ash in the Squire's woods, after that old idiot Hull had
told her she wouldn't find half-a-dozen? A thousand ash is not to be
sneezed at in these days! I happen to know that the Air Board wrote
the Squire a very civil letter.'
'"All along of Eliza!"' mused Mannering. 'She's been away from
Mannering just lately. Her invalid mother became very seriously ill
about three weeks ago, and she had to go home for a time. My father,
of course, has been fussing and fuming to get her back.'
'Poor Squire! But how could Pamela be spared too?'
Mannering hesitated.
'Well, the fact is she and my father seem to have had a good
old-fashioned row. She tried to fill Miss Bremerton's place, and of
course it didn't answer.
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