"I hope so, too," she returned heartily. "Still, it's jolly for you finding
an old friend like Mr. Coventry living next door, so to speak, isn't it?"
For a moment Mrs. Hilyard hesitated. Then:
"Very jolly," she replied, with a brief, enigmatic smile.
CHAPTER XII
A NEW ACQUAINTANCE
August had come in on a wave of such breathless heat that each day the
weather-wise foretold a thunderstorm. But, although the heavy, sultry air
and lowering skies seemed pregnant with impending tempest, with every
evening would come a clearer atmosphere and all signs of thunder disappear
until the following day, when the stifling heat closed down once more like
an invisible pall.
The pleasantest spot in the vicinity of Oldstone Cottage was undoubtedly a
certain corner of the garden where stood a venerable oak whose interlacing
branches spread themselves into a cool green canopy, and here, in a hammock
slung from one great limb of the tree to another, Ann had taken refuge. A
book lay open on her knee, but, yielding to the languor induced by the
oppressive heat, she had ceased to make even a pretence at reading and
leaned back in the hammock, hands clasped behind her head, idly reviewing
the happenings of the last few weeks.
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