Her fair hair, which had been closely shorn, was beginning to
curl at the ends. She liked the delicate contrasting line of the black
brows above the deep blue of the eyes. She noticed that the veins on the
white temples showed with great distinctness.
"Sit down!" she said. "And now you must tell me what to call you. Your
name is Antoinette, isn't it?"
"I'm generally called Toby," said the visitor in a very shy voice. "But
you will call me--what you like."
"Would you like me to call you Toby?" Maud asked.
"Yes, please," said Toby with unexpected briskness.
Maud smiled. "Very well, my dear. Then that is settled. We are not going
to be strangers, you and I. I expect you know that Lord Saltash and I are
great friends--though I have never met your father."
Toby's pale young face flushed suddenly. She was silent for a moment.
Then: "Lord Saltash has been very good to me," she said in her shy voice.
"He--saved me from drowning. Wasn't it--wasn't it nice of him to--take
the trouble?"
"Quite nice of him," Maud agreed. "You must have been very frightened,
weren't you?"
Toby suppressed a shudder. "I was rather. And the water was dreadfully
cold. I thought we should never come up again.
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