ers rode by, gaily uproarious in defeat, clean, gallant sportsmen
all, saluting misfortune as cheerily and as recklessly as they might
have greeted victory.

"Have at thee, buck!" shouted young Caryl, waving his hand as he passed
me. "We'll try it again, you villain, if there's life left in our
fasting mess!"

And Helsing, passing at a canter, grinned and beat his gold-laced
breast in mock despair, shouting back to me: "I'm for Duke Street and
Mendoza! Dine well, Carus, you who can afford to sup on chicken!"

Then came Sir Peter, cool, debonair, surrounded by a crowd afoot,
Horrock at heel, his old eyes dim with joy, his grim mouth set; and
after him two lads leading our horses, and O'Neil and Harkness mounted,
curbing the triumph that glittered in their eyes.

"Yonder comes Sir Peter," I said to Walter Butler. "Shall I have the
honor of making you known to one another?"

"He has forgotten me, I think," said Butler slowly, as Sir Peter raised
his hat in triumphant greeting to me and then included Butler in a
graver salute.

"You have heard the news, Carus?" he asked gaily.

"I give you joy," I said. Then, with colorless ceremony, I made them
known to one another, and with greater ceremony they exchanged salutes
and compliments--a pair matched in flawless breeding and the usages of
perfect courtesy.

"I bear a letter," said Walter Butler, "and have this morning done
myself the honor of waiting upon Lady Coleville and the 'Hon. Elsin
Grey.'"

And as Sir Peter acknowledged the courtesy, I looked suddenly at Walter
Butler, remembering what Elsin Grey had told me.

"The letter is from General Sir Frederick Haldimand," he said
pleasantly, "and I fear it bears you news not too agreeable. The Hon.
Miss Grey is summoned home, Sir Peter--pending a new campaign."

"Home!" exclaimed Sir Peter, surprised. "Why, I thought--I had hoped we
were to have her with us until winter. Gad! It is as you say, not too
agreeable news, Captain Butler. Why, she has been the life of the town,
sir; she has waked us and set us all a-dancing like yokels at a
May-pole or a ring-around-a-rosy! Split me! Captain Butler, but Lady
Coleville will be sorry to learn this news--and I, too, sir, and every
man in New York town."

He looked at me in genuine distress. My face was perfectly
expressionless.

"This should hit you hard, Carus," he said meaningly. Then, without
seeing, I felt Walter Butler's head slowly turning, and was aware of
his ey