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Page 32
"Of course!" answered Collingwood. "And if I come back, it will probably
be to stop here. Mr. Eldrick says there's a lot of work going begging in
Barford--for a smart young barrister well up in commercial law. Perhaps
I may try to come up to his standard--I'm certainly young, but I don't
know whether I'm smart."
"Better come and try," she said, smiling. "Don't forget that I've seen
you look the part, anyway--your wig and gown suited you very well."
"Theatrical properties," he replied, laughing. "The wig was too small,
and the gown too long. Well--we'll see. But in the meantime, I'm going
away for four months--to India."
"To India--four months!" she exclaimed. "That sounds nice."
"Legal business," said Collingwood. "I shall be back about the end of
April--and then I shall probably come down here again, and seriously
consider Eldrick's suggestion. I'm very much inclined to take it."
"Then--you'd leave London?" she asked.
"I've little to leave there," replied Collingwood. "My father and mother
are dead, and I've no brothers, no sisters--no very near relations.
Sounds lonely, doesn't it?"
"One can feel lonely when one has relations," said Nesta.
"Are you saying that from--experience?" he asked.
"I often wish I had more to do," she answered frankly. "What's the use
of denying it? I've next to nothing to do, here. I liked my work at the
hospital--I was busy all day. Here----"
"If I were you," interrupted Collingwood, "I'd set to work nursing in
another fashion. Look after your brother! Get him going at
something--even if it's playing golf. Play with him! It would do
him--and you--all the good in the world if you got thoroughly infatuated
with even a game. Don't you see?"
"You mean--anything is better than nothing," she replied. "All
right--I'll try that, anyway. For--I'm anxious about Harper. All this
money!--and no occupation!"
Collingwood, who was sitting near the windows, looked out across the
park and into the valley beyond.
"I should have thought that a man who had come into an estate like this
would have found plenty of occupation," he remarked. "What is there,
beside the house and this park?"
Nesta, who had busied herself with some fancy-work since Collingwood's
entrance, laid it down and came to the windows. She pointed to certain
roofs and gables in the valley.
"There's the whole village of Normandale," she said. "A busy place, no
doubt, but it's all Harper's--he's lord of the manor. He's patron of the
living, too. It's all his--farms, cottages, everything. And the woods,
and the park, and this house, and a stretch of the moors, as well. Of
course, he ought to find a lot to do--but he doesn't. Perhaps because my
mother does everything. She really is a business woman."
Collingwood looked out over the area which Nesta had indicated. Harper
Mallathorpe, he calculated, must be possessed of some three or four
thousand acres.
"A fine property!" he said. "He's a very fortunate fellow!"
Just then this very fortunate fellow came in. His face, dull enough as
he entered, lighted up at sight of a visitor, and fell again when
Collingwood explained that his visit was a mere flying one, and that he
was returning to London that night. Collingwood led him on to the
project which he had mentioned at his previous visit--the making of golf
links in the park, and pointed out, as a devotee of the sport, what a
fine course could be made. Before he left he had succeeded in arousing
like interest in Harper--he promised to go into the matter, and to
employ a man whom Collingwood recommended as an expert in laying out
golf courses.
"You'll have got your greens in something like order by this time next
year, if you start operations soon," said Collingwood. "And then, if I
settle down at Barford, I'll come out now and then, if you'll let me."
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