ped up against the
mantelpiece, he showed her glimpses of a wider world than she knew
of--and the girl's eyes softened as she listened to his accounts of the
great life he had led, the county-houses he had visited, and the
legendary runs he had held his own in. She sympathized with him when he
explained how hardly fate had dealt with him in not giving him L5,000 a
year, to be spent in London and Northamptonshire.

He cursed Ireland as the most hideous hole under the sun; he frightened
Mrs. Gould by reiterated assurances that the Land League would leave
them all beggars; and, having established this point, he proceeded to
develop his plan for buying young horses, training them, and disposing
of them in the English market. Eventually he dismissed his audience by
taking up the newspaper and falling asleep with the stump of a
burned-out cigarette between his lips. After breakfast he was seen
slouching through the laurels on his way to the stables. From the
kitchen and the larder--where the girls were immersed in calculations
anent the number of hams, tongues, and sirloins of beef that would be
required--he could be seen passing; and as May stood on no ceremony with
Alice, whistling to her dogs, and sticking both hands into the pockets
of her blue dress, she rushed after him, the mud of the yard oozing
through the loose, broken boots which she insisted on wearing. Behind
the stables there was a small field that had lately been converted into
an exercise-ground, and there the two would stand for hours, watching a
couple of goat-like colts, mounted by country lads--still in corduroy
and hobnails--walking round and round.

Mrs. Gould was clearly troubled by this very plain conduct. Once or
twice she allowed a word of regret to escape her, and Alice could see
that she lived in awe of her daughter. And May, there was no doubt, was
a little lawless when Fred was about her skirts; but when he was gone
she returned to her old, glad, affectionate ways and to her work.

The girls delighted in each other's society, and the arrangements for
their ball were henceforth a continual occupation. The number of letters
that had to be written was endless. Sitting at either end of the table
in the drawing-room, their pens scratched and their tongues rattled
together; and, penetrated with the intimacy of home, all kinds of
stories were told, and the whole country was passed in review.

'And do you know,' said May, raising her eyes from the let