They were in one of the stables. She leant against the manger.

“I’ve never had much to do with children, but she seemed to me interesting. She’s very advanced for eight, isn’t she?”

“Too advanced, I think. That’s why I’m against a school. All schools push clever children on. I want her talked with and played with, but not worked; she’s too much alone.”

“At a good boarding school she’d have other children—” He moved; she stopped him with a gesture. “I’m not trying to get out of teaching her. As a matter of fact, I want the job, but I’m thinking of her.”

“Gladys has been talking. She’s full of this boarding school idea, she’s even got the doctor on her side. But that’s because she’s over anxious. The kid had measles pretty badly, and Gladys has been scared ever since. She’s as fond of Iris as if she were her own child, and it worries her she can’t give all the time to her she’d like. She thinks a governess in the daytime isn’t enough, she’d like her where there are matrons and all that. Before I came to the arrangement with Sheila I had thought of a resident governess, but, of course, that was impossible, it was stupid of me to think of it.” He looked apologetically at Janet as if he were afraid she was thinking him a fool. “Difficult for a male to get the hang of how a woman feels; I saw directly I suggested it that Gladys could not possibly be asked to share the drawing-room and all that with a woman she didn’t know.”

Janet lowered her eyes to hide the expression in them, which was not sympathetic to Gladys.

“All right, then, I’ll take Iris on.”

His voice vibrated with pleasure.

“Good. When will you start?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Better still.” His eyes ran over her. “I can see we are going to get on fine.” She walked to the door, and he kept pace with her. “Now, mind you, you’ve a free hand. Teach her what you like, but not too much sitting indoors. You can spend what you like within reason, you know, for books and all that. Just let me know what you want.”

They stood in the stable door. The rain was beating down in a sheet before them, turning the yard into mud, but neither of them noticed the weather. There was a warm glow of understanding and fellowship between them, that was as good as the sun coming out.

“You won’t hold it against your governess that you found her crying in a wood?”

He smiled.

“With a bit of moss on her chin.”

She stepped out into the yard. Then a thought struck her.