anced at her gratefully.

"Where have you been all day, Percy?" asked Miriam, masking her
indifference with a show of curiosity.

"Oh, I've been mouching about," he said. "Looking round the estate
generally." He fingered his glass and glanced across at the Marquess.
"They seem to look after the preserves pretty well," he said; "but I
noticed that there was a gipsy encampment down by the pool. Unpleasant
sort of characters to have about you. I should clear them away, father."

"I know the gipsy encampment you mean," said the Marquess; "but they are
pitched on that piece of common land; it is just outside the estate, and
we have no power to remove them. Besides," he added, "I've a kind of
liking for them; they do no harm; and they are, well, picturesque, don't
you think, Miriam?"

"That's all very well," said Heyton, with a forced laugh; "but I don't
know about their doing no harm. They're most of them thieves, I should
say."

"We can spare a fowl or two," said the Marquess, with a smile. "And a
broken hedge is soon mended."

"Oh, if it were only the fowls," said Heyton. "But I daresay some of
them would fly higher than hen-roosts. For instance, nothing would be
easier than to break into the house here; and there's plenty to tempt
them--plenty of silver, I mean," he added, hastily and with a furtive
glance at the Marquess.

"I don't think gipsies commit burglaries," said the Marquess, in his
precise way. "They would find some difficulty in getting away with their
booty. It would be easy to trace them."

"All the same, I'd try to get rid of them," said Heyton, doggedly. "I
saw one or two of them, evil-looking chaps, lurking about the
plantation."

"Looking for wood for their fires, no doubt," said the Marquess. "But
I'll speak to the steward, if you wish it; though, as I say, they are on
common land and it will not be easy to turn them off."

"Well, don't blame me when it's too late," said Percy, with a shrug of
his shoulders.

Departing from his usual custom, he went into the drawing-room with his
father and sat there, listening to Miriam's playing and singing; and it
was he who suggested bed.

"I'm a bit tired; had a long tramp to-day," he said, yawning and
stretching his arms.

"You ought to walk more, Percy," remarked the Marquess. "If you'll allow
me to say so, I don't think you take enough exercise. You ought to ride;
but perhaps you will when the hunting begins."

"Can't afford to hunt," retorted