upling
your name with this--Miss Adrea Kiros. They spoke of her coming down
here as though you must have known something of it. They were blaming
you, as though you were responsible for her coming. We have been
friends, Mr. de Vaux; and so far as I am concerned, our friendship has
been very pleasant. But if there is any truth in what they said--well,
you can guess the rest. I want you to tell me yourself; I am never
content to accept hearsay evidence against my friends. I prefer to be
unconventional, as you see. Please tell me!"

"Will you put your question a little more definitely, Lady May?" Paul
asked slowly.

"Certainly! Has that young person come here at your instigation? Did
you arrange for her to come here?"

"I did not! No one could have been more surprised to see her than I
was."

Lady May was growing very stiff. She sat up in her saddle, and drew
the reins through her fingers. "You know her?"

"I do!"

"You visited her in London?"

"I did!"

"You were at the cottage last evening?"

"I was! I lost my way, and----"

Lady May touched her horse with her spur. "Thank you, Mr. de Vaux!"
she said haughtily. "I will not trouble you any more. Please don't
follow me!"

Paul watched her ride down the hillside and join one of the little
groups dotted about outside the cover-side, with a curious sense of
unreality. After a while he broke into a little laugh, and, shaking
his reins, lit a cigar. This was a new character for him altogether.
He knew himself that no man had kept his life more blameless than he!
If anything, he felt sometimes that he had erred upon the other
side in thinking and speaking too hastily of those who had been
less circumspect. And now, it had come to this. The woman whose good
opinion he had always valued next to his mother's had deliberately
accused him of what must have seemed to her a flagrant outrage on
decency. Her words were still ringing in his ears: "Please don't
follow me." Lady May had said that to him; it was a little hard to
realize.

A commotion around the cover below was a welcome diversion to him
just then. A fox had got clear away, and hounds were in full cry. Paul
pressed his hat down, and settled into his saddle with a grim smile.
The physical excitement was just what he wanted, and in a few minutes
he was leading the field, with only the master by his side, and
Captain Westover a few yards behind.

At the first check, Captain Westover rode up to him. "I want ju