but a few cripples to show for his morning's work."

"Come out with a bit of a twist from the left, don't they?" Dominey
remarked, repeating his late exploit.

"They do that, sir," the old man assented, "and no one but a Dominey
seems to have learnt the knack of dealing with them proper. That foreign
Prince, so they say, is well on to his birds, but I wouldn't trust him
at this corner."

The old man moved off a few paces to some higher ground, to watch
the progress of the beaters through the wood. Seaman turned to his
companion, and there was a note of genuine admiration in his tone.

"My friend," he declared, "You are a miracle. You seem to have developed
the Dominey touch even in killing pheasants."

"You must remember that I have shot higher ones in Hungary," was the
easy reply.

"I am not a sportsman," Seaman admitted. "I do not understand sport. But
I do know this: there is an old man who has lived on this land since the
day of his birth, who has watched you shoot, reverently, and finds even
the way you hold your gun familiar."

"That twist of the birds," Dominey explained, "is simply a local
superstition. The wood ends on the slant, and they seem to be flying
more to the left than they really are."

Seaman gazed steadfastly for a moment along the side of the wood.

"Her Grace is coming," he said. "She seems to share the Duke's dislike
of me, and she is too great a lady to conceal her feelings. Just one
word before I go. The Princess Eiderstrom arrives this afternoon."

Dominey frowned, then, warned by the keeper's shout, turned around and
killed a hare.

"My friend," he said, with a certain note of challenge in his tone, "I
am not certain that you have told me all that you know concerning the
Princess's visit."

Seaman was thoughtful for a brief space of time.

"You are right," he admitted, "I have not. It is a fault which I will
repair presently."

He strolled away to the next stand, where Mr. Mangan was displaying an
altogether different standard of proficiency. The Duchess came up to
Dominey a few minutes later.

"I told Henry I shouldn't stop with him another moment," she declared.
"He has fired off about forty cartridges and wounded one hare."

"Henry is not keen," Dominey remarked, "although I think you are a
little hard on him, are you not? I saw him bring down a nice cock just
now. So far as regards the birds, it really does not matter. They are
all going home."

The Duchess was very