"In the first place, a man does not like being cut by a lady; and in the next, we shall be neighbours--I'm going to stay there--" he nodded grimly at the beautiful "little place." "Neighbours ?" she said, half absently.

"It is farther off than you think; and, besides, we know no one.

We have no neighbours in that sense--or friends.

My father does not like to see anyone; we live quite alone--" "So I've heard--" He stopped and bit his lip; but she did not seem to have noticed his interruption.
-- "So that even if my father did not object to the house or--or--" "My father," said Stafford with a smile.
A smile answered his candour.
"It would be all the same.

And why should it matter to you?
You have a great many friends, no doubt--and we should not be likely to meet." "Oh, yes, we should!" he said, with the dogged kind of insistence which also sometimes surprised his friends.