rs, and gold-starred
wall-paper which decorated these apartments had offended her eye for
years. John laughed at her hesitation, and advised her to consult her
sisters-in-law on the subject; and this settled the question.

"They would choose bottle-green" she said, in horror; and she salved
her conscience by paying for the redecoration of the drawing-rooms out
of her own pocket.

John discovered that Lady Mary had never drawn a cheque in her life,
and that Mr. Crawley's lessons in the management of her own affairs
filled her with as much awe as amusement.

* * * * *

So the old order changed and gave place to the new at Barracombe; and
the summer grew to winter, and winter to summer again; and Peter did
not return, as he might, with the corps in which he had the honour to
serve.

Want of energy was not one of his defects; he was a strong, hardy
young man, a fine horseman and a good shot, and eager to gain
distinction for himself. He passed into a fresh corps of newly raised
Yeomanry, and went through the Winter Campaign of 1901, from April to
September, without a scratch. His mother implored him to come home;
but Peter's letters were contemptuous of danger. If he were to be
shot, plenty of better fellows than he had been done for, he wrote;
and coming home to go to Oxford, or whatever his guardian might be
pleased to order him to do, was not at all in his line, when he was
really wanted elsewhere.

To do him justice, he had no idea how boastfully his letters read; he
had not the art of expressing himself on paper, and he was always in
a hurry. The moments when he was moved by a vague affection for his
home, or his mother, were seldom the actual moments which he devoted
to correspondence; and the passing ideas of the moment were all Peter
knew how to convey.

Lady Mary could not but be aware of her son's complete independence of
her, but the realization of it no longer filled her with such dismay
as formerly. Her outlook upon life was widening insensibly. The young
soldier's luck deserted him at last. Barely six weeks before the
declaration of peace, Peter was wounded at Rooiwal. The War Office,
and the account of the action in the newspapers, reported his injuries
as severe; but a telegram from Peter himself brought relief, and even
rejoicing, to Barracombe--

"_Shot in the arm. Doing splendidly. Invalided home. Sailing as soon
as doctor allows_."

CHAPTER X

"I neve