He began to frown and to pull restlessly at the lash of his riding-whip.
"Do you think me impertinent for asking you questions?" he said.
"Not so far," said Juliet.
He uttered a brief laugh. "You're cautious. Listen, Miss Moore! I don't
care a--I mean, it's nothing whatever to me where you've come from or
why. What I really came to ask is--do you want a job?"
Juliet stiffened a little involuntarily. "What sort of a job?" she said.
His fingers tugged more and more vigorously at the leather. She realized
quite suddenly that he was embarrassed, and at once her own
embarrassment passed.
"Have you come to offer me a job?" she said. "How kind of you to
think of it!"
"You don't know what it is yet," said Fielding, biting uncomfortably at
his black moustache. "It may not appeal to you. Quite probably it won't.
You've been a companion before--so Green tells me."
"Oh!" Juliet's straight brows gathered slightly. "Did Mr. Green tell you
I was wanting a job?"
"No, he didn't. Green sticks to his own business and nothing will turn
him from it." The squire suddenly lashed with his whip at the grass in
front of him, causing Columbus to jump violently and turn a resentful eye
upon him.
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