`Or  the  violets ?sx '  he  said  , gently  humouring  her .sx   `Then  I  suppose  there's  nothing  for  it  but  to  go  home .sx '  
`I'll  go .sx   You  needn't,'  Jenny  said  , with  decision  , and  hesitating  for  a  moment  , they  turned  their  backs  on  each  other  and  separated  , but  Jenny  had  not  gone  more  than  a  few  yards  before  she  remembered  his  kindness  and  her  manners  , and  heedless  of  the  Merrimans'  windows  she  was  willing  to  run  after  him  and  ask  his  pardon  , if  he  would  turn  his  head .sx   
This  Mr.  Cummings  did  not  do .sx   His  back  looked  stubborn  and  uncompromising  , and  his  trousers  looked  shorter  than  ever  when  seen  from  behind  , so  Jenny  continued  on  her  way  and  she  walked  slowly  , sorry  she  had  been  unkind  and  realising  that  , under  the  influence  of  the  gallant  figure  on  the  horse  , she  had  treated  poor  Mr.  Cummings  as  she  had  treated  Thomas  Grimshaw  when  the  Dakins  were  listening  on  the  doorstep .sx   But  who  , in  this  case  , could  have  helped  it ?sx   her  heart  cried  , and  her  heart  ached  until  she  eased  it  with  a  story  of  a  new  King  Cophetua  who  loved  a  beggar  maid  and  found  she  was  as  noble  as  himself .sx   
There  is  no  tale  so  enthralling  as  the  one  told  by  youth  about  itself  , and  Jenny  was  carried  through  the  village  on  the  feet  of  fancy .sx   She  saw  no  one  and  heard  nothing  , though  swift  cars  rushed  past  and  country  carts  jogged  by  , until  she  came  to  a  break  in  the  path  set  high  above  the  road  and  saw  that  she  had  reached  the  turning  to  the  White  Farm .sx   
A  hundred  yards  away  on  her  left  was  the  curving  road  above  the  wooded  slope  , and  still  half  dazed  , though  careful  to  avoid  the  traffic  as  she  crossed  , she  found  that  here  , where  there  was  less  noise  , she  could  not  return  into  her  spell .sx   The  sounds  were  more  personal  and  could  not  be  forgotten :sx   birds  were  singing  in  the  trees  , there  were  strolling  couples  in  her  path  , and  at  the  gates   .sx
of  the  houses  across  the  road  there  were  waiting  cars  and  boys  and  girls  who  talked  and  laughed  together  , young  men  in  flannels  , more  akin  to  Mr.  Merriman  than  to  Mr.  Cummings  , girls  in  light  frocks  and  gay  woollen  coats .sx   They  had  been  playing  tennis  on  the  hard  courts  in  Upper  Radstowe  and  they  lingered  in  the  gardens  before  they  went  in  to  tea .sx   They  would  have  tea  in  their  nice  drawing-rooms  , full  of  flowers  and  pretty  cretonnes  , like  Miss  Headley's  sitting-room  , and  then  they  would  go  upstairs  and  bathe  their  healthily-tired  bodies  , brush  their  sleek  heads  and  slip  into  evening  dresses  and  descend  to  dining-rooms  sparkling  with  glass  and  silver  , where  kind  fathers  and  mothers  smiled  benignly  at  their  happy  , pretty  daughters .sx   
Jenny  wiped  her  shoes  in  the  long  grass  edging  the  path .sx   She  knew  she  was  invisible  'to  these  young  people  , as  she  had  been  to  Mr.  Merriman  , but  , she  thought  bitterly  , they  would  have  seen  her  if  she  had  been  beautifully  dressed .sx   In  the  meantime  she  wiped  her  shoes  for  her  own  satisfaction  , wondering  if  any  of  those  girls  had  feet  as  slim .sx   The  beggar  maid  must  have  had  a  startling  beauty  in  her  rags  or  the  king  would  not  have  looked  twice  her  way .sx   Dahlia  , with  her  bright  colouring  and  her   :sx ace  like  an  impudent  , wide-opened  flower  , might  attract  he  royal  attention  , but  Jenny's  charms  needed  a  close  inspection .sx   Kings  did  not  go  riding  about  the  world  deliberately  peering  into  the  faces  of  beggars :sx   they  rode  ,  .sx
hen  they  were  young  , for  the  joy  of  riding  , and  probably  he  one  she  had  in  mind  had  looked  at  nobody  that  afternoon  , neither  at  those  who  were  shabby  like  Jenny  nor   :sx gay  like  the  girls  on  the  other  side  of  the  road .sx   Young  men  , as  she  was  learning  from  her  acquaintance  with  Ir .sx   Cummings  , had  sources  of  pleasure  in  themselves :sx   they  were  free  of  the  feminine  desire  to  be  of  special  importance  to  a  special  person  , and  Mr.  Merriman  on  his   .sx
horse  and  Mr.  Cummings  in  his  stout  shoes  could  enjoy  a  lovely  afternoon  at  the  end  of  April  and  be  alone .sx   But  was  Mr.  Cummings  enjoying  it ?sx   she  wondered  , and  she  thought  , with  annoyance  , that  in  all  likelihood  he  was  , and  she  had  a  vengeful  pleasure  in  the  shortness  of  his  trousers  until  she  remembered  them  as  they  leapt  from  the  neighbourhood  of  the  horse .sx   
Jenny  was  not  sure  that  she  would  recognise  the  rider  if  she  met  him  elsewhere  or  on  foot .sx   What  filled  her  mind  was  the  picture  he  and  the  horse  had  made  , the  contrast  he  had  pointed  , the  reminder  he  had  given  that  thus  her  father  must  once  have  looked  , and  her  own  brother  , should  have  looked  if  she  had  had  any .sx   She  knew  that  he  was  fair  , for  the  sun  had  burnished  his  hair  and  the  horse'  , chestnut  coat  and  made  the  pair  radiantly  splendid .sx   Not  formally  dressed  for  riding  , bare-headed  and  wearing  flannel  trousers  , he  looked  as  though  he  had  jumped  on  to  his  horse  to  do  an  errand  , as  a  less  fortunate  person  would  jump  on  a  bicycle .sx   It  was  sad  to  think  that  , more  closely  viewed  , he  might  be  quite  a  plain  young  man .sx   His  eyes  might  squint  or  his  teeth  project  but  , after  all  , that  did  not  matter  , for  she  had  her  vision  and  she  could  look  at  it  when  she  would  , though  looking  at  it  would  not  make  her  happy .sx   Her  picture  of  Kitty  and  the  lavender  bushes  and  Fanny  bustling  about  the  house  and  making  pastry  much  better  than  Louisa  Rendall's  was  all  pleasure .sx   It  was  peaceful  and  friendly  and  could  not  make  her  envious  , and  she  thought  complacently  that  those  girls  might  see  her  as  a  superior  being  , as  she  saw  Mr.  Merriman  , and  then  she  reminded  herself  sharply  that  he  was  not  superior  and  she  was  not  a  genuine  beggar  maid :sx   she  was  a  princess  in  disguise  who  must  some  day  be  discovered  for  what  she  was .sx   
When  she  reached  the  bridge  the  man  at  the  toll-house  treated  her  with  the  respect  due  to  the  princess  and  the   .sx
familiarity  incident  to  the  loss  of  her  throne .sx   Many  a  time  he  had  taken  money  from  Sidney  Rendall  who  , in  the  toll-man's  opinion  was  a  real  gentleman  , and  passed  him  and  his  daughters  on  to  the  bridge .sx   Many  a  time  he  had  chatted  with  Louisa  Rendall  , who  was  usually  alone  , and  now  the  poor  gentleman  was  buried  , his  handsome  , inappropriate  wife  had  set  up  a  lodging-house  in  Upper  Radstowe  , and  the  deference  once  paid  to  the  daughters  for  the  father's  sake  was  moderated  by  his  removal .sx   
Jenny  noticed  the  change  as  she  noticed  and  exaggerated  all  such  slights  , and  crossing  the  bridge  slowly  she  told  herself  she  was  not  really  a  definite  person  , like  Dahlia  or  Mr.  Cummings .sx   The  toll-man  , the  girls  at  the  gate  , the  man  on  the  horse  , affected  her  as  though  they  were  contorting  mirrors  and  she  was  constrained  to  see  herself  therein .sx   This  , as  she  knew  , was  vanity  and  weakness :sx   there  was  no  need  to  look  , and  to  do  so  was  inconsistent  with  the  very  qualities  she  wanted  to  proclaim  , and  she  made  another  of  her  good  resolutions  and  walked  home  briskly  , in  time  to  see  Mary  Dakin  , in  a  new  spring  hat  , descending  from  a  cab  outside  her  door .sx   
Jenny  was  fated  to  be  troubled  , for  though  Mary  smiled  at  her  , it  was  with  a  difference  , and  she  passed  into  the  house  without  a  friendly  word .sx   Only  a  few  days  ago  they  had  been  whispering  over  the  garden  wall :sx   then  Mary  had  set  off  humbly  carrying  her  suit-case  , to  return  in  a  cab  and  show  herself  unwilling  to  acknowledge  Jenny's  presence .sx   
`Perhaps  she  knows  the  hat  doesn't  suit  her,'  Jenny  thought .sx   `It's  all  wrong  with  her  coat  and  skirt .sx   I  suppose  it  was  easier  to  wear  it  than  to  pack  it  , and  perhaps  it  was  given  to  her  by  the  aunt .sx '  And  Jenny  , who  was  much  concerned  with  aunts  , imagined  that  this  one  of  Mary's  was  a  little  like  Aunt  Isabel  , but  with  false  pearls  instead  of  real  ones  , and  a  little  like  Aunt  Sarah  , or  she  would   .sx
not  have  chosen  such  a  hat .sx   She  was  never  to  know  that  it  had  been  bought  by  Mary  in  the  determination  to  be  as  feminine  as  herself  ; though  later  she  was  to  guess  that  the  arrival  in  the  cab  had  been  in  the  nature  of  a  triumph  and  that  the  triumph  was  of  a  kind  to  make  friendship  with  Jenny  Rendall  unnecessary  and  inadvisable .sx   Proof  of  her  own  power  to  charm  made  Mary  ashamed  of  having  seen  a  romantic  heroine  in  the  little  girl  next  door .sx   
That  half-smile  sent  Jenny  into  her  own  house  with  a  new  feeling  that  this  was  home  , where  she  had  a  sister  whom  she  loved  and  who  loved  her  , with  a  new  recognition  that  , though  her  mother  lacked  all  the  tenderer  , subtler  attributes  of  motherhood  , she  had  a  solicitude  of  her  own  , expressed  materially  by  a  kettle  singing  on  the  fire  and  a  meal  spread  on  the  kitchen  table .sx   
This  afternoon  there  was  no  sign  of  tea .sx   The  table  was  covered  with  a  yellow  fabric  , and  Dahlia  , who  had  apparently  revised  her  decision  about  new  clothes  , stood  over  it  with  a  large  pair  of  scissors  in  her  hand  , while  Louisa  sat  reading  a  newspaper  at  the  window .sx   
`Now  don't  tell  me  the  colour  won't  suit  me !sx '  Dahlia  cried .sx   `I've  been  to  Barley  Street  this  afternoon  and  bought  it  very  cheap  , and  I've  got  another  piece  just  like  it  , only  grey  , for  you .sx '  
`It's  pretty,'  Jenny  said  , `but  it  will  be  prettier  when  I've  had  some  tea .sx '  
`Tea ?sx '  said  Louisa .sx   `We've  had  ours  , and  I  made  sure  you'd  be  having  it  with  Cummings .sx '  
Jenny  lifted  her  head  and  her  voice  was  a  faint  echo  of  her  father's .sx   `Why  should  I  have  had  tea  with  Mr.  Cummings ?sx '  
`Well  , dear  me  , if  you  go  for  a  walk  with  a  lad  , it  isn't  likely  he'd  bring  you  home  without  it .sx   They  wouldn't  have  done  that  when  I  was  young .sx '  
`He  hasn't  brought  me  home .sx '  All  Jenny's  magnificence  deserted  her .sx   She  knew  she  had  left  the  house  unobserved  by  her  mother  , and  she  could  hear  Thomas  Grimshaw's  thick  , soft  voice  telling  Louisa  he  had  seen  her  daughter  with  the  lodger  , making  a  joke  of  the  matter  , because  that  was  how  he  would  be  bound  to  see  it  , and  perhaps  knowing  that  , by  doing  so  , he  would  take  the  best  revenge  for  her  cold  nod  and  for  the  old  insult  he  surely  had  not  forgotten .sx   And  she  was  enraged  at  her  mother's  commerce  with  the  man :sx   she  remembered  the  sexton's  leer  , and  she  saw  Grimshaw  as  the  abominable  source  of  every  sorrow  , but  she  was  incapable  of  expressing  this  instantaneous  , tumultuous  emotion .sx   She  could  only  babble  , careless  of  truth  , `I  didn't  go  for  a  walk  with  him !sx   You  know  , oh  , you  know  why  I  went  to  Combe  Friars  this  afternoon .sx   And  that  horrible  man  goes  and  poisons  everything !sx '  
`And  what  man's  that ?sx '  Louisa  asked  menacingly  , but  Jenny  did  not  stay  to  answer  or  to  see  her  mother's  face  change  from  anger  to  bewilderment  , to  hear  her  say  sadly  , `It's  not  safe  to  speak  to  that  girl .sx   You  never  know  when  she'll  fly  into  a  temper .sx   All  the  same  , when  Grimshaw  told  me  , I  wasn't  going  to  laugh  about  it .sx   Nobody's  going  to  poke  fun  at  Jennifer  , nor  at  you  , when  I'm  by  to  hear  it .sx '  
It  is  easy  to  quarrel  , difficult  to  meet  with  dignity  afterwards  , and  Jenny  was  minded  to  stay  upstairs  and  refuse  to  minister  to  Mr.  Cummings  , but  that  would  only  have  postponed  the  awkward  moment  , which  proved  not  to  be  awkward  at  all  , for  Louisa  acted  on  the  adages  of  her  youth    'Let  bygones  be  bygones,'  `Hard  words  break  no  bones  , " Least  said  , soonest  mended'    and  she  was  her  usual  self  as  she  heaped  Mr.  Cummings'  plate .sx   But  Jenny  had  yet  to  face  Mr.  Cummings .sx   They  had  hardly  parted  friends  , and  she  knew  the  fault  was  hers  , but  , judging  him  by  her  mother's  standard  of  forbearance  , she   .sx
was  prepared  for  geniality  , which  she  would  graciously  receive .sx