ity that the wood roads were climbing great hills the
horse did not seem to feel. Pepper knew every lane and by-path within
twenty miles of Ripton, and exhibited such surprise as a well-bred horse
may when he was slowed down at length and turned into a hard, blue-stone
driveway under a strange granite arch with the word "Fairview" cut in
Gothic letters above it, and two great lamps in wrought-iron brackets
at the sides. It was Austen who made a note of the gratings over the
drains, and of the acres of orderly forest in a mysterious and seemingly
enchanted realm. Intimacy with domains was new to him, and he began
to experience an involuntary feeling of restraint which was new to him
likewise, and made him chafe in spite of himself. The estate seemed to
be the visible semblance of a power which troubled him.

Shortly after passing an avenue neatly labelled "Trade's Drive" the road
wound upwards through a ravine the sides of which were covered with a
dense shrubbery which had the air of having always been there, and yet
somehow looked expensive. At the top of the ravine was a sharp curve;
and Austen, drawing breath, found himself swung, as it were, into space,
looking off across miles of forest-covered lowlands to an ultramarine
mountain in the hazy south,--Sawanec. As if in obedience to a telepathic
command of his master, Pepper stopped.

Drinking his fill of this scene, Austen forgot an errand which was not
only disagreeable, but required some fortitude for its accomplishment.
The son had this in common with the Honourable Hilary--he hated heroics;
and the fact that the thing smacked of heroics was Austen's only
deterrent. And then there was a woman in this paradise! These gradual
insinuations into his revery at length made him turn. A straight avenue
of pear-shaped, fifteen-year-old maples led to the house, a massive
colonial structure of wood that stretched across the shelf; and he
had tightened the reins and started courageously up the avenue when
he perceived that it ended in a circle on which there was no sign of a
hitching-post. And, worse than this, on the balconied, uncovered porch
which he would have to traverse to reach the doorway he saw the sheen
and glimmer of women's gowns grouped about wicker tables, and became
aware that his approach was the sole object of the scrutiny of an
afternoon tea party.

As he reached the circle it was a slight relief to learn that Pepper
was the attraction. No horse knew bette