-"

Bill Kirby, who was possessed of good brown eyes and a profile like a
handsome battle-axe, was a young man of no special intellectual gifts,
but the sound judgment that distinguished him in the hunting-field was
wont to stand his friend in other emergencies. He was entirely aware
that he was no match for Judith in debate, but he was also aware that
deeds sometimes speak louder than words. He attempted no spoken reply,
but after a wary glance round the room, he permitted his large, brown
hand to descend upon and envelop Judith's, that rested on the sofa
beside him.

"You know you're talking rot," he murmured, cautiously. "No, don't
struggle. If you say things like that, you've got to be punished. Are
you sorry?"

"Not in the least!" replied Judith, with an equal caution; "but you
will be, soon! Mrs. St. George is looking at you!" The battle-axe
profile of Mr. Kirby betrayed no hint of the situation.

"Keep quiet, and say you're sorry! _I_ don't mind sitting here
all the afternoon--like this," he added, with a slight additional
pressure.

"I shall count three," said Judith suavely, "and then I shall ask you
in a loud, clear voice to get me another cup of tea. One--"

Further developments of the situation need not be attempted, the more
so as at this juncture the entrance of two uninvited guests caused a
redistribution of seats, whose most marked feature was the creation of
a desert space round the new arrivals and their hostess.

It would perhaps be irregular to say that the Reverend Matthew and
Mrs. Cotton were the incumbents of the parish church of Cluhir (and
had been profanely described as "the incumbrance of Cluhir"); even to
speak of them as, respectively, its curate and its rector, might,
though more accurate, be, perhaps, considered flippant. It would also
be open to the reproach of lack of originality. Yet, unoriginal though
the dominant clergywoman of fiction may be, it cannot be denied that
St. Paul's injunctions in connection with the subjection of wives did
not commend themselves to Mrs. Cotton. It may be, indeed, that her
views on matrimony, being more instructed, were sounder than those of
St. Paul, and she could at least argue that had he been acquainted
with Mr. Cotton he might have modified them. In any case, whatever St.
Paul might think about it, Mrs. Cotton was quite sure that she was
better fitted than was her husband to deal with the matter that had
brought them to Mount Music.

She d