money
merely to have a hold upon me, and I thought it possible you might care
for him. There is always the chance----"

"Oh, you didn't. I cannot believe you would ever think so meanly of me
as that."

"Well, I don't know," Sir George said, stung into retort. "Anyhow, it is
unfortunate that Harry Fielden should come back just now."

The hot blood flamed into May's face.

"That is unjust and ungenerous," she cried. "In any case, my reply would
be just the same. I never did care for anybody but Harry Fielden, and I
never will. You know that. There is not the slightest chance of his ever
being in a position to keep a wife. But we are talking in a circle. I am
more than sorry to hear what you say, but if the worst comes to the
worst we shall have to dispose of everything and leave Haredale Park.
For nothing shall induce me to marry Raymond Copley."

"Well, there's an end of it all," Sir George said. "This makes a beggar
of me. But don't decide like that. Think it over and give me your final
answer in the morning."

CHAPTER XI

ON THE EDGE

If Harry Fielden had hoped to see May again that night he was
disappointed. She was tired, Sir George said, and hoped that Fielden
would not mind if she did not come into the library. He was a little bit
under the mark himself and would go to bed. So Fielden was left to his
uneasy thoughts with the hope that he might learn something in the
morning. But glancing at May across the breakfast table he could read
nothing from the expression of her face. She was a little silent, but
otherwise her features were tranquil, and it was not till an hour or so
afterwards that Fielden found himself alone with her.

"I hope you are better?" he asked.

"Oh, there's nothing whatever the matter with me," May said in her
candid way. "I am only worried, that's all. You have been here quite
long enough to see that things are not going with us as they should. It
will be a terrible thing if our colt fails to win the Derby. Indeed, I
don't know how we shall be able to carry on till the end of May in any
case. What a wretched business it all is! How foolish people are to risk
their happiness on the speed of a horse! But the Haredales have always
been gamblers. I suppose it is in the blood. Put on your hat and take me
for a walk across the Downs. I need something to blow the cobwebs away."

Fielden was eager. For some time he walked in silence by the girl's
side, waiting for her to speak. He