r.
Horace knew in a moment whose was that quaint figure. He gave a soft
whistle to himself. It was the Professor.

The old gentleman came straight on, and, presently, seeing, within fifty
yards, strange people before him, walked up. He stood face to face with
Horace Maybold, amazed, aghast, and finally very angry.

"Good-morning, Professor," said that young man. "I'm afraid I've
stumbled by a sheer accident on your hunting-ground. I am staying with
an old schoolfellow thirty miles away, and rode in this direction. I
had no idea you were here."

The Professor was a sight to behold. Red as an enraged turkey-cock,
streaming with perspiration--for it was a hot afternoon--almost
speechless with indignation, he at last blurted into tongue: "So, sir,
this is what you have been doing--stealing a march upon me; following me
up secretly; defrauding me of the prizes of my own labour and research.
I could not have believed it of any member of the Society. The thing is
more than unhandsome. It is monstrous! an utterly monstrous
proceeding!"

Horace attempted to explain matters again. It was useless; he might as
well have argued with a buffalo bull at that moment.

"Mr Maybold," retorted the Professor, "the coincidence of your staying
in the very locality in which my discovery was made, coupled with the
fact that you endeavoured, at the last meeting of the Entomological
Society, to extract from me the habitat of this new species, is quite
too impossible. I have nothing more to say, for the present." And the
irate old gentleman passed on.

Horace felt excessively vexed. Yet he had done no wrong. Perhaps when
the old gentleman had come to his senses he would listen to reason.

Jacobus now led the way to the farmhouse. It lay only a mile away, and
they presently rode up towards the _stoep_. Two ladies were sitting
under the shade of the ample thatched veranda--one was painting, the
other reading. Horace could scarcely believe his eyes as he approached.
These were his two fellow-passengers of the _Norham Castle_, Mrs
Stacer and Rose Vanning, the latter looking, if possible, more charming
than ever. The ladies recognised him in their turn, and rose with a
little flutter. Horace jumped from his horse and shook hands with some
warmth.

"Who on earth," he said, "could have expected to meet you in these
wilds? I _am_ astonished--and delighted," he added, with a glance at
Rose.

Explanations ensued. It seemed t