. Of course they
_all_ haunted you," he explained politely, as she shook her head in sign
of non-comprehension; "but there was one who--ah--gulped at his cup."

"Please--you are rather dreadful, aren't you?"

"Yes. So was he; I mean the infatuated chinless gentleman whose facial
ensemble remotely resembled the features of a pleased and placid lizard
of the Reptilian period."

"Oh, George Fane! That is particularly disagreeable of you, Captain
Selwyn, because his wife has been very nice to me--Rosamund Fane--and
she spoke most cordially of you--"

"Which one was she?"

"The Dresden china one. She looks--she simply cannot look as though she
were married. It's most amusing--for people always take her for
somebody's youngest sister who will be out next winter. . . . Don't you
remember seeing her?"

"No, I don't. But there were dozens coming and going every minute whom I
didn't know. Still, I behaved well, didn't I?"

"Pretty badly--to Kathleen Lawn, whom you cornered so that she couldn't
escape until her mother made her go without any tea."

"Was _that_ the reason that old lady looked at me so queerly?"

"Probably. I did, too, but you were taking chances, not hints. . . . She
_is_ attractive, isn't she?"

"Very fetching," he said, leaning down to examine his stirrup leathers
which he had already lengthened twice. "I've got to have Cummins punch
these again," he muttered; "or am I growing queer-legged in my old age?"

As he straightened up, Miss Erroll said: "Here comes Mr. Fane now--with
a strikingly pretty girl. How beautifully they are mounted"--smilingly
returning Fane's salute--"and she--oh! so you _do_ know her, Captain
Selwyn? Who is she?"

Crop raised mechanically in dazed salute, Selwyn's light touch on the
bridle had tightened to a nervous clutch which brought his horse up
sharply.

"What is it?" she asked, drawing bridle in her turn and looking back
into his white, stupefied face.

"Pain," he said, unconscious that he spoke. At the same instant the
stunned eyes found their focus--and found her beside his stirrup,
leaning wide from her seat in sweet concern, one gloved hand resting on
the pommel of his saddle.

"Are you ill?" she asked; "shall we dismount? If you feel dizzy, please
lean against me."

"I am all right," he said coolly; and as she recovered her seat he set
his horse in motion. His face had become very red now; he looked at her,
then beyond her, with all the deliberate concentratio