And she had by now developed a kind of _flair_ in the
woods, which was the astonishment of Captain Dell, himself no mean
forester. As far as ash was concerned, she was a hunter on the
trail. She could distinguish an ash tree yards ahead through a mixed
or tangled wood, and track it unerringly. The thousand ash that she,
and the old park-keepers set on by her, had already found for the
Government, were nothing to what she meant to find. The Squire's
woods, some of which she had not yet explored at all, were as mines
to her in which she dug for treasure--for the timber that might save
her country.
Captain Dell delighted in her. He had already taught her a great
deal, and was now drilling her in the skilled arts of measurement
and valuation. The Squire, in stupefaction, watched her at work with
pole and tape, measuring, noting, comparing. Had it been any one
else he would have been bored and contemptuous. But the novelty of
the thing and the curious fact that the lady who looked up his Greek
references was also the lady who was measuring the trees, kept him a
half-unwilling but still fascinated spectator of her proceedings.
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