CHAPTER III

L'OISEAU BLEU

Bunny surpassed himself that afternoon. Wherever he went, success seemed
to follow, and shouts of applause reached him from all quarters.

"That young fellow is a positive genius," commented General Melrose, who
had a keen eye for the game. "He ought to be in the Service. Why isn't
he, Mrs. Bolton?"

"He wasn't considered strong enough," Maud said. "It was a great
disappointment to him. You see, he spent the whole of his childhood on
his back with spine trouble. And when that was put right he outgrew his
strength."

"Ah! I remember now. You used to wheel the poor little beggar about in a
long chair. Well, he's rather different now from what he was in those
days. Not much the matter with him, is there?"

"Nothing now," Maud said.

"What does he do with himself?" asked the General, surveying the distant
figure at that moment galloping in a far corner of the field.

"He is agent on Lord Saltash's estate at Burchester," his daughter said,
suddenly entering the conversation. "He was telling me about it at
luncheon. He and Lord Saltash are friends."

"Ah! To be sure!" General Melrose's look suddenly came to Maud and she
felt herself colour a little.

"He is an old friend of the family," she said. "We live not far from the
Castle. My husband owns the Graydown Stables."

"Oh, I know that," the General said courteously. "I know your husband,
Mrs. Bolton, and I am proud to know him. What I did not know until to-day
was that he was your husband. I never heard of your marriage."

"We have been married for eight years," she said with a smile.

"It must be at least ten since I saw you last," he said. "This girl of
mine--Sheila--must have been at school in those days. You never met her?"

Maud turned to the girl. "I don't think we have ever met before," she
said. "Is this your first visit to Fairharbour?"

"My first visit, yes." Sheila leaned forward. She was a pretty girl of
two-and-twenty with a quantity of soft dark hair and grey eyes that held
a friendly smile. "We don't go to the sea much in the summer as a rule.
We get so much of it in the winter. Dad always winters in the South. It
only seems a few weeks since we came back from Valrosa."

Maud was conscious of an abrupt jerk from Toby on her other side, and she
laid a hand on her arm with the kindly intention of drawing her into the
conversation. But the next instant feeling tension under her hand, she
turned to look at he