d every atom she touched in
a room, and would have heaped gold to have the chairs, tables, cups,
carpets, mine. I have two short letters written with her hand. I 'd give
two of my estates for two more. If I were a beggar, and kept them, I
should be rich. Relieve me of that dog, and I toss you a thousand-pound
note, and thank you from my soul, Cumnock. You know what hangs on it.
Spur, you dolt, or she'll be out of sight.'

They cantered upon application of the spur. Captain Cumnock was an
impecunious fearless rascal, therefore a parasite and a bully duellist; a
thick-built north-countryman; a burly ape of the ultra-elegant; hunter,
gamester, hard-drinker, man of pleasure. His known readiness to fight was
his trump-card at a period when the declining custom of the duel taxed
men's courage to brave the law and the Puritan in the interests of a
privileged and menaced aristocracy. An incident like the present was the
passion in the dice-box to Cumnock. Morsfield was of the order of men who
can be generous up to the pitch of their desires. Consequently, the world
accounted him open-handed and devoted when enamoured. Few men liked him;
he was a hero with some women. The women he trampled on; the men he
despised. To the lady of his choice he sincerely offered his fortune and
his life for the enjoyment of her favour. His ostentation and his
offensive daring combined the characteristics of the peacock and the
hawk. Always near upon madness, there were occasions when he could
eclipse the insane. He had a ringing renown in his class.

Chariot and horsemen arrived at the Roebuck Arms, at the centre of the
small town of Ashead, on the line from Steignton through Rowsley. The
pair of cavaliers dismounted and hustled Weyburn in assisting the ladies
to descend.

The ladies entered the inn; they declined refection of any sort. They had
biscuits and sweetmeats, and looked forward to tea at a farther stage.
Captain Cumnock stooped to their verdict on themselves, with marvel at
the quantity of flesh they managed to put on their bones from such
dieting.

'By your courtesy, sir, a word with you in the inn yard, if you please,'
he said to Weyburn in the inn-porch.

Weyburn answered, 'Half a minute,' and was informed that it was exactly
the amount of time the captain could afford to wait.

Weyburn had seen the Steignton phaeton and coachman in the earl's
light-blue livery. It was at his orders, he heard. He told the coachman
to expect hi