He perceived suddenly that he had a carrot in his mouth.
Harbinger had witnessed this episode, oddly pale, leaning against the loose-box wall.

He spoke, as it came to an end: "Lady Babs!" The tone of his voice must have been as strange as it sounded to himself, for Barbara spun round.
"Yes ?" "How long am I going on like this ?" Neither changing colour nor dropping her eyes, she regarded him with a faintly inquisitive interest.

It was not a cruel look, had not a trace of mischief, or sex malice, and yet it frightened him by its serene inscrutability.

Impossible to tell what was going on behind it.

He took her hand, bent over it, and said in a low voice: "You know what I feel; don't be cruel to me!" She did not pull away her hand; it was as if she had not thought of it.
"I am not a bit cruel." Looking up, he saw her smiling.
"Then--Babs!" His face was close to hers, but Barbara did not shrink back.