On those evenings on which he came to "The Gables" Mr. Lenox always looked
in on her for a little gossip; and this was called his "runcible spoon"--the
joke being that Mr. Lenox and Runcie were engaged to be married.
And now you know the Avory family root and branch.
CHAPTER 2: THE SOUND OF MYSTERIOUS WHEELS
One day in late June the Avories and the Rotherams and Horace Campbell were
sitting at tea under the cedar talking about a great tragedy that had
befallen. For Mrs. Avory had just heard that Mrs. Dudeney--their regular
landlady at Sea View, in the Isle of Wight, where they had lodgings
every summer for years and years, and where they were all ready to go next
month as usual--Mrs. Avory had just heard that Mrs. Dudeney had been taken
very ill, and no other rooms were to be had.
Here was a blow! For the Rotherams always went to Sea View too, and had a
tent on the little strip of beach under the wood adjoining the Avories',
and they did everything together. And now it was very likely that the
Avories would not get lodgings at all, and certainly would not get any half
so good as Mrs. Dudeney's, where their ways were known, and their
bathing dresses were always dried at once in case they wanted to go in
again, and so on.
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