midday
It was loathsome having him in the house , and she and Richard were hardly ever alone . But her bad dreams left her . This was life simple as the Christians said it was , in which one might hug serenity by the conscientious performance of a disagreeable duty . Yet there came a day , about three weeks after his coming , when Roger sat glumly at the midday meal and did not talk , as he had ordinarily done , about the chaps at Exeter , and how there was one chap who could imitate birds ' calls so that you could n't hardly tell the difference , and how another chap had an uncle who was a big grocer and used to send him a box of crystallised fruit at Christmas ; and immediately the meal was finished he rose and left the room , instead of waiting about and saying , `` I s ` pose you are n't going for a walk , are you , mummie ? '' Relieved by his departure , she had leaned back in her chair and smiled up at Richard , saying , `` How brown you are still ! '' when suddenly there had flashed across her a recollection of how Roger 's shoulders had looked as he went out of the room , and she started up to run out and find him . He was in one of the outhouses , clumsily trying to carpenter something that was to be a surprise to somebody .