Meanwhile he held his peace on the subject of some letters he had
received that morning. There was to be an expedition in Nigeria.
Officers were wanted; and he had volunteered. The result of his
application was not yet known. He had no intention whatever of upsetting
his parents till it was known.
"I wonder how Miss Mallory liked Tallyn," said Mrs. Roughsedge, briskly.
She had already expressed the same wonder once or twice. But as neither
she nor her son had any materials for deciding the point the remark
hardly promoted conversation. She added to it another of more effect.
"The Miss Bertrams have already made up their minds that she is to marry
Oliver Marsham."
"The deuce!" cried the startled Roughsedge. "Beg your pardon, mother,
but how can those old cats possibly know?"
"They can't know," said Mrs. Roughsedge, placidly. "But as soon as you
get a young woman like that into the neighborhood, of course everybody
begins to speculate."
"They mumble any fresh person, like a dog with a bone," said Roughsedge,
indignantly.
They were passing across the broad village street. On either hand were
old timbered cottages, sun-mellowed and rain-beaten; a thatched roof
showing here and there; or a bit of mean new building, breaking the
time-worn line.
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