t 's my road. I 've watched every atom
she touched in a room, and would have heaped gold to have the chairs,
tables, cups, carpets, mine. I have two short letters written with her
hand. I 'd give two of my estates for two more. If I were a beggar, and
kept them, I should be rich. Relieve me of that dog, and I toss you a
thousand-pound note, and thank you from my soul, Cumnock. You know what
hangs on it. Spur, you dolt, or she'll be out of sight.'

They cantered upon application of the spur. Captain Cumnock was an
impecunious fearless rascal, therefore a parasite and a bully duellist;
a thick-built north-countryman; a burly ape of the ultra-elegant;
hunter, gamester, hard-drinker, man of pleasure. His known readiness to
fight was his trump-card at a period when the declining custom of
the duel taxed men's courage to brave the law and the Puritan in the
interests of a privileged and menaced aristocracy. An incident like the
present was the passion in the dice-box to Cumnock. Morsfield was of
the order of men who can be generous up to the pitch of their desires.
Consequently, the world accounted him open-handed and devoted when
enamoured. Few men liked him; he was a hero with some women. The women
he trampled on; the men he despised. To the lady of his choice he
sincerely offered his fortune and his life for the enjoyment of
her favour. His ostentation and his offensive daring combined the
characteristics of the peacock and the hawk. Always near upon madness,
there were occasions when he could eclipse the insane. He had a ringing
renown in his class.

Chariot and horsemen arrived at the Roebuck Arms, at the centre of the
small town of Ashead, on the line from Steignton through Rowsley. The
pair of cavaliers dismounted and hustled Weyburn in assisting the ladies
to descend.

The ladies entered the inn; they declined refection of any sort. They
had biscuits and sweetmeats, and looked forward to tea at a farther
stage. Captain Cumnock stooped to their verdict on themselves, with
marvel at the quantity of flesh they managed to put on their bones from
such dieting.

'By your courtesy, sir, a word with you in the inn yard, if you please,'
he said to Weyburn in the inn-porch.

Weyburn answered, 'Half a minute,' and was informed that it was exactly
the amount of time the captain could afford to wait.

Weyburn had seen the Steignton phaeton and coachman in the earl's
light-blue livery. It was at his orders, he heard. He told