m, Dick?"

"Foliot?" replied Shelton absently. "No; I never met him: I've seen her
once or twice at Ascot."

Through the window he could see Antonia in her scarlet Tam-o'-shanter,
swinging her stick, and he got up feigning unconcern. Just then Toddles
came bounding up against his sister. They went off arm in arm. She had
seen him at the window, yet she gave no friendly glance; Shelton felt
more miserable than ever. He stepped out upon the drive. There was a
lurid, gloomy canopy above; the elm-trees drooped their heavy blackish
green, the wonted rustle of the aspen-tree was gone, even the rooks were
silent. A store of force lay heavy on the heart of nature. He started
pacing slowly up and down, his pride forbidding him to follow her, and
presently sat down on an old stone seat that faced the road. He stayed a
long time staring at the elms, asking himself what he had done and what
he ought to do. And somehow he was frightened. A sense of loneliness was
on him, so real, so painful, that he shivered in the sweltering heat. He
was there, perhaps, an hour, alone, and saw nobody pass along the road.
Then came the sound of horse's hoofs, and at the same time he heard
a motor-car approaching from the opposite direction. The rider made
appearance first, riding a grey horse with an Arab's high set head
and tail. She was holding him with difficulty, for the whirr of the
approaching car grew every moment louder. Shelton rose; the car flashed
by. He saw the horse stagger in the gate-way, crushing its rider up
against the gatepost.

He ran, but before he reached the gate the lady was on foot, holding the
plunging horse's bridle.

"Are you hurt?" cried Shelton breathlessly, and he, too, grabbed the
bridle. "Those beastly cars!"

"I don't know," she said. "Please don't; he won't let strangers touch
him."

Shelton let go, and watched her coax the horse. She was rather tall,
dressed in a grey habit, with a grey Russian cap upon her head, and he
suddenly recognised the Mrs. Foliot whom they had been talking of at
lunch.

"He 'll be quiet now," she said, "if you would n't mind holding him a
minute."

She gave the reins to him, and leaned against the gate. She was very
pale.

"I do hope he has n't hurt you," Shelton said. He was quite close to
her, well able to see her face--a curious face with high cheek-bones
and a flatfish moulding, enigmatic, yet strangely passionate for all its
listless pallor. Her smiling, tightened lips w