t Charles and his wife,
not anticipating the pleasure of my company beyond Monday, had arranged
to ride over the downs to Newtown to inspect a horse. They would not be
back until the evening.

"But that's all right, Charles," I said. "If you have a spare horse, a
steady one which doesn't wobble when it canters, I will ride with you."

"There's only the old pony," said Charles, "and he will be wanted to
drive you to the station."

"Not until Tuesday," I pointed out.

Charles ignored this remark altogether.

"You couldn't ride Joseph, anyway," he said.

"Then I might run beside you, holding on to your stirrup. My ancestors
always went into battle like that. We are still good runners."

Charles turned over some more pages of his timetable.

"There is a 10.41," he announced.

"Just when I shall be getting to like you," I sighed.

"Molly and I have to be off by ten. If you caught the 10.41, you would
want to leave here by a quarter past."

"I shouldn't _want_ to leave," I said reproachfully; "I should go with
the greatest regret."

"The 9.25, of course, gets you up to town much earlier."

"Some such idea, no doubt, would account for its starting before the
10.41. What have you at about 4.30?"

"If you don't mind changing at Plimton, there's a 10.5----"

I got up and lit my candle.

"Let's wait till to-morrow and see what the weather's like," I said
sleepily. "I am not a proud man, but after what you've said, and if it's
at all wet, I may actually be glad to catch an early train." And I
marched upstairs to bed.

However, a wonderful blue sky next morning made any talk of London
utterly offensive. My host and hostess had finished breakfast by the
time I got down, and I was just beginning my own when the sound of the
horses on the gravel brought me out.

"I'm sorry we've got to dash off like this," said Mrs. Charles, smiling
at me from the back of Pompey. "Don't you be in any hurry to go. There
are plenty of trains."

"Thank you. It would be a shame to leave the country on a morning like
this, wouldn't it? I shall take a stroll over the hills before lunch,
and sit about in the garden in the afternoon. There's a train at five, I
think."

"We shan't be back by then, I'm afraid, so this will be good-bye."

I made my farewells, and Pompey, who was rather fresh, went off sideways
down the drive. This left me alone with Charles.

"Good-bye, Charles," I said, patting him with one hand and his horse
with th