Chapter 44“Do you want to live at the hall?” said Edward Random. He was kneeling on the hearth-rug, drawing up the neglected fire with a couple of sheets of newspaper.
Susan, on the window-seat with a book in her lap which she was not attempting to read, could only suppose that he had not noticed Emmeline’s withdrawal. She said in her clear voice,
“She’s gone to feed the cats.”
“Emmeline?”
“Of course.”
A small bright flame was creeping up behind the paper. He regarded it with approval, and said,
“But why? I wasn’t talking to her—and anyhow she much prefers this cat-ridden cottage. I was talking to you.”
He snatched the paper back as he spoke, and the flame followed it. There was a whoosh and a few damns before he got the whole blazing mass crammed back amongst the now reviving logs.
