"Surely a fine woman, though lame,
wouldn't look at a needle-woman--well, leave it at that."
He stamped his feet and put his hands in his pockets.
"It's growing a bit chilly," he said. "You'll be catching cold, Miss
Bracely, and what will your husband say if he finds out I've been
strolling about with you out of doors after dinner?"
"Yes, we'll go in," she said. "It is chilly. How thoughtful you are for
me."
Georgie little knowing the catspaw that had been made of him, found
himself being detached from Mrs Weston by the Colonel, and this suited
him very well, for presently Olga said she would sing, unless anybody
minded, and called on him to accompany her. She stood just behind him,
leaning over him sometimes with a hand on his shoulder, and sang three
ruthless simple English songs, appropriate to the matter in hand. She
sang, "I Attempt from Love's Sickness to Fly," and "Sally in Our
Alley," and "Come Live with Me," and sometimes beneath the rustle of
leaves turned over she whispered to him, "Georgie, I'm cleverer than
anybody ever was, and I shall die in the night," she said once. Again
more enigmatically she said, "I've been a cad, but I'll tell you about
it when they've gone. Stop behind." And then some whiskey came in, and
she insisted on the "young people" having some of that; finally she saw
them off at the door, and came running back to Georgie.
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