CHAPTER X
A MAN OF STRAW
THE shower had lifted and was moving away down the valley, a gray mist of rain with a slowly following flood of sunshine. Oliver got up and said without enthusiasm:
"We must go now, we have an errand we must do. Come along, Janet."
She rose to go with him but looked back wistfully several times as she went, with lagging feet, down the hill. She had wished that the story might last forever, so that she need not face Anthony Crawford at the end of it.
They said nothing to each other as they climbed into the car and threaded the twisting lanes and byroads that would take them to the house they sought. Oliver was rehearsing within himself what he should say when they presented the picture. "My sister carried this away by mistake, we thought that we should return it to you as soon as possible.
"And then he will say something sharp and unkind, and I won't know what to answer," he reflected drearily. "I will want to say that I am sure it
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