"Thank you. But as my mother has not murdered my father, and afterwards married my uncle, I shouldn't know what to think about, unless it were balancing the chances of our having a well-cooked dinner or not. What do you think?"
"I am in good hopes. She used to be considered a famous cook as far as Helstone opinion went."
"But have you considered the distraction of mind produced by all this haymaking?"
Margaret felt all Mr. Bell's kindness in trying to make cheerful talk about nothing, to endeavour to prevent her from thinking too curiously about the past. But she would rather have gone over these dear-loved walks in silence, if indeed she were not ungrateful enough to wish that she might have been alone.

'Thank you. But as my mother has not murdered my father, and afterwards married my uncle, I shouldn't know what to think about, unless it were the chances of our having a well-cooked dinner. What do you think?'
'I am in good hopes. Mrs. Purkis used to be considered a famous cook.'
'But have you considered the distraction of all this haymaking?'
Margaret felt Mr. Bell's kindness in trying to make cheerful talk about nothing, to prevent her from thinking too much about the past. But she would rather have walked in silence.
