a far cheaper regiment, aware that as a soldier he
might still keep a home for his wife, whereas any experiment in the
untried fields of labour might swallow up all he had. In due course
the solicitor replied that the request would be granted. But ere the
wedding was solemnised the unlooked-for hand of fate dealt him a
pitiless blow. He had many friends in the neighbourhood of his uncle's
estate, friends who were glad and willing to receive Joan for his sake
and her own; and in an unhappy hour he received a pressing invitation
to meet her at the house of one of them, and have a week with the
pheasants before he had to rejoin his regiment. It was a bitter cold
month that year, and every sportsman's temper was a little on edge at
having to face December blasts in October. And one day when they were
out in a preserve that adjoined Richard Carew's, he and his friend
heard shots and voices over the dividing hedge; and it brought up the
subject of young Geoffrey's cold-blooded delight in his good fortune
at becoming his uncle's heir, and unthinkingly the friend commenced to
repeat a report of something he had said in the local club when a
little the worse for drink. Then he had stopped short abruptly, trying
to turn away the subject, but with a sudden dangerous light in his
eyes Peter had demanded to be told; and because the other man's heart
was sore for his friend, and he wanted to give Peter an excuse to
cross swords with his brother, he told how Geoffrey had implied his
relations with Joan had been exactly the same as his own, Geoffrey's,
with the keeper's daughter in the beginning, but that he had not been
clever enough to get clear of the affair as he had done, and that now
he was nicely sold for his high-flown superiority.

And then the wrath in Peter's face had been a terrible thing to see.
It was as if his very nature reeled. He ground his teeth together, and
his eyes had a red look as he muttered savagely, "God damn him; he
shall pay for this!" He was standing with his face towards his uncle's
preserve, and even as he cursed there was a sound of shots, and a
second later a hare dashed out and fled past them.

Scarcely knowing what he did in the blind white-heat of his passion,
but possessed suddenly with an awful desire to kill, he swung
completely round and fired at it. And just at that moment Joan and
their hostess were coming up behind, hidden by the brushwood and
shrubs, to go with them to the luncheon-place,-