"They are much too high for you to reach," was his observation.
"They are rather high," Caroline agreed, "but I am sure I can reach them if I give a jump."
He mounted the rough ground and reached up to the bush that stood high above the hedge.
"Betty will be delighted," she said; "we have been looking everywhere for those red berries, and somehow we never thought of coming down this road."
When they were back in the cab and jolting on again Haverford said to her--
"Although you pretend that you did not expect me to write, I suppose you will be a little interested in hearing that I have some odds and ends of intelligence to give you about yourself. I should have written to you days ago," he went on quickly, "but my mother is rather a difficult person to handle, as you know, and it was only yesterday that I managed to corner her on this subject. She knew what was coming, and shirked me accordingly."
Caroline said nothing. She waited for him to continue. Nevertheless, her heart began to beat a little nervously.
"It is quite true," Haverford said after that little pause, "my mother is your guardian, or rather was, for in future I intend to relieve her of that office. You are her niece by marriage. Your mother was Gerald Baynhurst's only sister. From what I can gather, this sister must have been very dear to him. I am really as much a stranger to my mother's life as yourself, Miss Graniger. Beyond knowing that she married Mr. Baynhurst after my father's death, I have never been informed, I may add that I have never cared to inform myself, about anything connected with this marriage. So I can only give you the bare outline of your story."
He paused again, and this time Caroline spoke, her voice sounding very low in her own ears.
"Of course, my mother and my father are dead?"
"Yes; your father died before your uncle," Haverford answered. "Your mother, apparently a very delicate woman, was left in the charge of her brother Gerald, and he was also appointed your guardian. When he died suddenly this charge passed on to my mother."
He ceased speaking abruptly. It would have been difficult to have grasped from his tone whether he judged his mother harshly or not.
"I hope to get you more details," Mr. Haverford said when he spoke again. "As a matter of fact, I have brought down with me a quantity of old letters and other papers which I dare say will throw some light on your early history. You seem to have been quite a baby when your mother died, and you came to England when you were a little child between three and four."