CHAPTER XIV. THE LEADING ARTICLE AND MR. TIMOTHY TURBOT

Nevil declined to come to Steynham, clearly owing to a dread of hearing
Dr. Shrapnel abused, as Rosamund judged by the warmth of his written
eulogies of the man, and an ensuing allusion to Game. He said that he
had not made up his mind as to the Game Laws. Rosamund mentioned
the fact to Mr. Romfrey. 'So we may stick by our licences to shoot
to-morrow,' he rejoined. Of a letter that he also had received from
Nevil, he did not speak. She hinted at it, and he stared. He would
have deemed it as vain a subject to discourse of India, or Continental
affairs, at a period when his house was full for the opening day of
sport, and the expectation of keeping up his renown for great bags on
that day so entirely occupied his mind. Good shots were present who had
contributed to the fame of Steynham on other opening days. Birds were
plentiful and promised not to be too wild. He had the range of the
Steynham estate in his eye, dotted with covers; and after Steynham,
Holdesbury, which had never yielded him the same high celebrity, but
both lay mapped out for action under the profound calculations of the
strategist, ready to show the skill of the field tactician. He could not
attend to Nevil. Even the talk of the forthcoming Elections, hardly to
be avoided at his table, seemed a puerile distraction. Ware the foe of
his partridges and pheasants, be it man or vermin! The name of Shrapnel
was frequently on the tongue of Captain Baskelett. Rosamund heard him,
in her room, and his derisive shouts of laughter over it. Cecil was
a fine shot, quite as fond of the pastime as his uncle, and always in
favour with him while sport stalked the land. He was in gallant spirits,
and Rosamund, brooding over Nevil's fortunes, and sitting much alone,
as she did when there were guests in the house, gave way to her
previous apprehensions. She touched on them to Mr. Stukely Culbrett,
her husband's old friend, one of those happy men who enjoy perceptions
without opinions, and are not born to administer comfort to other than
themselves. As far as she could gather, he fancied Nevil Beauchamp
was in danger of something, but he delivered his mind only upon
circumstances and characters: Nevil risked his luck, Cecil knew his
game, Everard Romfrey was the staunchest of mankind: Stukely had nothing
further to say regarding the situation. She asked him what he thought,
and he smiled. Could a reasonable head