"How could it be?"
"I'm sure I haven't an idea, my lady," returned Caley. "My lord
has been always kind to Mr Lenorme, and I suppose he has been in
the way of going to see him at work. Who would have thought my lord
had been such an early riser! There are not many gentlemen like him
nowadays, my lady! Did your ladyship hear the noise in the studio
after you left it?"
"I heard high words," answered her mistress, "--nothing more.
How on earth did MacPhail come to be there as well?--From you,
Caley, I will not conceal that his lordship behaved indiscreetly;
in fact he was rude; and I can quite imagine that MacPhail thought
it his duty to defend me. It is all very awkward for me. Who could
have imagined him there, and sitting behind amongst the pictures!
It almost makes me doubt whether Mr Lenorme be really gone."
"It seems to me, my lady," returned Caley, "that the man is always
just where he ought not to be, always meddling with something he
has no business with. I beg your pardon, my lady," she went on, "but
wouldn't it be better to get some staid elderly man for a groom,
one who has been properly bred up to his duties and taught his
manners in a gentleman's stable? It is so odd to have a groom from
a rough seafaring set--one who behaves like the rude fisherman
he is, never having had to obey orders of lord or lady! The worst
of it is, your ladyship will soon be the town's talk if you have
such a groom on such a horse after you everywhere.
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