"Did you not expect me?" Geoffrey asked.
"Expect you? no. No more than I expected----" and she stopped suddenly.
"It is very odd," he said; "I thought you knew that your father was
going to ask me down. I returned from London with him."
"From London," she murmured. "I did not know; Elizabeth did not tell me
anything about it. I suppose that she forgot."
"Here I am at any rate, and how are you?"
"Oh, well now, quite well. There, I am all right again. It is very wrong
to frighten people in that way, Mr. Bingham," she added in her usual
voice. "Let me pass through the gate and I will shake hands with
you--if," she added, in a tone of gentle mockery, "one may shake hands
with so great a man. But I told you how it would be, did I not, just
before we were drowned together, you know? How is Effie?"
"Effie flourishes," he answered. "Do you know, you do not look very
grand. Your father told me that you had a cold in the winter," and
Geoffrey shivered as he thought of the cause.
"Oh, thank you, I have nothing to complain of. I am strong and well. How
long do you stay here?"
"Not long.
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