d great fair moustache and brown face; the closely fitting
uniform showed off his erect figure and; elastic gait, and the whole
impression was fresh and exhilarating in the extreme. I was sorry he had
gone. I would have liked to talk with him about boating and fishing and
shooting; about athletics and horses and tandem-driving, and many things
I used, to like years ago at college, before I began my wandering life;
I watched him as he swung himself: into the military saddle, and he
threw up his hand in a parting salute as he rode away. Poor fellow! was
he, too, going to be food for powder and Afghan knives in the avenging
army on its way to Kabul? I went back to my books and remained reading
until the afternoon sun slanted in through the open door, and falling
across my book warned me it was time to keep my appointment with Isaacs.

As we passed the church the people were coming out from the evening
service, and I saw Kildare, once more in the garb of a civilian,
standing near the door, apparently watching for some one to appear. I
knew that, with his strict observance of Catholic rules--often depending
more on pride of family than on religious conviction, in the house of
Kildare--he would not have entered the English Church at such a time,
and I was sure he was lying in wait for Miss Westonhaugh, probably
intending to surprise her and join her on her homeward ride. The road
winds down below the Church, so that for some minutes after passing the
building you may get a glimpse of the mall above and of the people upon
it--or at least of their heads--if they are moving near the edge of the
path. I was unaccountably curious this evening, and I dropped a little
behind Isaacs, craning my neck and turning back in the saddle as I
watched the stream of heads and shoulders, strongly foreshortened
against the blue sky above, moving ceaselessly along the parapet over my
head. Before long I was rewarded; Miss Westonhaugh's fair hair and broad
hat entered the field of my vision, and a moment later Lord Steepleton,
who must have pushed through the crowd from the other side, appeared
struggling after her. She turned quickly, and I saw no more, but I did
not think she had changed colour.

I began to be deeply interested in ascertaining whether she had any
preference for one or the other of the two young men. Kildare's visit in
the morning--though he had said very little--had given me a new
impression of the man, and I felt that he was no