it would certainly have been wiser not to have mentioned Miss Kenton at all. But

you will perhaps understand that there was a natural tendency on my part, in

asking what was after all a generous favour from my employer, to hint that there

was a good professional motive behind my request. So it was that in indicating

my reasons for preferring the West Country for my motoring, instead of leaving

it at mentioning several of the alluring details as conveyed by Mrs Symons's

volume, I made the error of declaring that a former housekeeper of Darlington

Hall was resident in that region.

 

I suppose I must have been intending to explain to Mr Farraday how I would thus

be able to explore an option which might prove the ideal solution to our present

small problems here in this house. It was only after I had mentioned Miss Kenton

that I suddenly realized how entirely inappropriate it would be for me to

continue.

 

Not only was I unable to be certain of Miss Kenton's desire to rejoin the staff

here, I had not, of course, even discussed the question of additional staff with

Mr Farraday since that first preliminary meeting over a year ago. To have

continued pronouncing aloud my thoughts on the future of Darlington Hall would

have been, to say the very least, presumptuous. I suspect, then, that I paused

rather abruptly and looked a little awkward. In any case, Mr Farraday seized the

opportunity to grin broadly at me and say with some deliberation:

 

"My, my, Stevens. A lady-friend. And at your age."