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etch of swamp, across a patch of stones, always at the same half gallop. Lady Mary looked down and smiled at the enjoyment in her companion's face. "You've passed the first test," she declared, "but then I knew you would. I brought Mr. Montague along here yesterday morning, and he cried like a child." "Mr. Who?" Jacob gasped. "Mr. Montague and a friend of his. They came down with father last night. Perfectly abominable men. I hope you won't leave me to their tender mercies for a single moment, Mr. Pratt." To Jacob, the warmth seemed to have gone from the sunlight, and the tearing wind was no longer bringing him joy. Up above him, the long white front of Kelsoton Castle had come into view. His wonderful holiday, then, had come to this--that he must walk, minute by minute, in fear of his liberty, perhaps his life. He was to spend the days he had looked forward to so much in this lonely spot with the men who were his sworn enemies. He looked behind him for a moment. The train by which he had come had disappeared long ago across a dark stretch of barren moor. Escape, even if he had thought of it, was cut off. "I gather that you don't care much for Mr. Montague, either," she remarked, flicking one of the pony's ears. Jacob roused himself. "Not exactly my choice of a holiday companion," he admitted. She leaned towards him. "You are only going to have one companion," she told him. "I have demanded your head upon a charger--or rather your body in tennis flannels--for the rest of the day. The others are all going for a picnic." "Is that fellow Maurice somebody coming down?" Jacob asked anxiously. "He hasn't even been asked," she assured him, with a flash of her blue eyes. "Here we are at the first lodge. Now for a gallop up the avenue." The Marquis in kilts, the very prototype of the somewhat worn Scottish chieftain of ancient lineage, welcomed his visitor on the threshold, from which the great oak doors had been thrown back. "So sorry we haven't the bagpipes," he apologised, as he shook Jacob's hand. "We shall get into form in a day or two. Now you'll have a bath and some breakfast, won't you? Your things will be up in a few moments. You'll find some old friends here," he added, as he piloted Jacob across the huge, bare hall, "but my daughter tells me that she claims you for tennis--to-day, at any rate." Everything seemed cheerful and reassuring. His room looked straight out on to a magnificent,
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