lightfully free
from the dreaded vice of interference. When consulted on church
matters, he would shrug his shoulders, and declare that it was all one
to him. So long as the music was passable, and the sermons kept within
a ten minutes' limit, he could be relied upon to give liberally, and to
make no complaints. Truly a patron in a hundred! Such a man could not
fail to be a kind husband. Moreover, the touch of snobbishness in Mrs
Evans's nature invested Cassandra's position in the county with a most
satisfying importance, while the presence of the needful heir made the
picture complete. Youth, beauty, wealth, a fine position, a kindly
husband, a strong young son,--what more could a woman desire? "But you
must be careful not to take cold!" she added remindfully.

Cassandra gave a short, mirthless laugh, but before she had time to
speak her husband and Grizel turned the corner of the path, and Bernard,
with his usual lack of ceremony, beckoned to her to approach. He looked
flushed and worried, and with a word of apology to Mrs Evans, Cassandra
hurried to meet him.

"Here you are at last! Been searching all over. Trust you to hide
yourself out of sight. Look here! I want you at the house. There's
been an accident. Peignton--"

Cassandra straightened herself hastily. The flower-beds with their
blaze of colour whizzed round in kaleidoscopic fashion before her eyes.
She felt very cold, and faint. Grizel's voice sounded a long way off,
speaking with a studied distinctness.

"A _slight_ accident! Only his ankle. He was doing something in the
rockery, clambering over the big stones, and one turned over... The
Squire sent for an old Bath chair in the stables, and he has been
wheeled into the plant room. There is a terrific discussion going on as
to what next. Can't you come and take away _some_ of Mrs Mallison?"

Cassandra turned homeward without a word, the Squire walking by her
side, waving his hands in excitement.

"She wants to drag him home with her in that shandrydan! Says he'll be
lonely at home, and would have Teresa. Hang Teresa! There's a time for
all things,--a man can't be bothered with love-making when his foot is
giving him blue lightnings. Shake him to pieces driving over those
roads! Jevons can get him to bed here, and look after him properly.
I'll wire to that Swedish fellow to come down, and he'll have him on his
feet in two or three days. We'll put him in the blue room, next to