of course, confined to her bed. She would send
you her love if she knew I was writing."

Lord Grayleigh let this letter drop on to the table beside him. He sat
quite still for a moment, then he lit a cigarette and began to pace
the room. After a pause he took up Mrs. Ogilvie's letter and re-read
the postscript.

After having read it a second time he rang his bell sharply. A servant
appeared.

"I am going to town by the next train; have the trap round," was
Grayleigh's direction.

He did go to town by the next train, his children seeing him off.

"Where are you going, father?" called out Freda. "You promised you
would take us for a long, long drive this afternoon. Oh, this is
disappointing. Are you coming back at all to-night?"

"I don't think so, Freda. By the way, have you heard that your little
friend Sibyl has met with an accident?"

"Has she?" replied Freda. "I am very sorry. I like Sibyl very much."

"So do I!" said Gus, coming up, "she's the best sort of girl I ever
came across, not like an ordinary girl--quite plucky, you know. What
sort of accident did she have, father?"

"I don't know; I am going to see. I am afraid it has something to do
with the pony I gave her. Well, good-by, youngsters; if I don't return
by the last train to-night, I'll be back early to-morrow, and we can
have our drive then."

Lord Grayleigh drove at once to Victoria Station, and took the next
train to Richmond. It was a two-mile drive from there to Silverbel. He
arrived at Silverbel between five and six in the afternoon. Mrs.
Ogilvie was pacing about her garden, talking to two ladies who had
come to call on her. When she saw Lord Grayleigh driving up the
avenue, she uttered a cry of delight, apologized to her friends, and
ran to meet him--both her hands extended.

"How good of you, how more than good of you," she said. "This is just
what I might have expected from you, Lord Grayleigh. You received my
letter and you have come to answer it in person."

"I have come, as you say, to answer it in person. How is Sibyl?"

"Oh, better. I mean she is about the same, but she really is going on
very nicely. She does not suffer the slightest pain, and----"

"Can I see her?"

"Of course you can. I will take you to her. Dear little thing, she
will be quite delighted, you are a prime favorite of hers. But first,
what about the bazaar? Ah, naughty man! you need not think you are
going to get out of it, for you are, as Sibyl says,