HUMMIN' BIRD'S WESKIT."

At a quarter past two that afternoon, Amaryllis, with her bull-dog, set
out for a walk.

Her father was in the laboratory, ostensibly at work, and Sir Randal,
beaming expectant, had driven off to St. Albans.

Tea-time, or even dinner was early enough, thought Amaryllis, to meet
the new-comer; and then, in spite of the mixture of bewilderment, pride
and regret which oppressed her, she remembered the words of the American
in the Cape Town bar: "Eyes blue as a hummin' bird's weskit."

"How absurd!" she exclaimed, laughing to herself.

Then she sighed, and was quite sure she really wanted to be alone, and
set herself, as she strolled down through the hazel copse towards the
London road, to think seriously of Randal Bellamy and his offer.

But the trouble was that Miss Caldegard had never seen a humming bird,
and therefore found herself brooding on the blueness of all the blue
things in her experience, from willow-pattern china to the waters of the
Mediterranean, instead of considering the answer which she must give to
Randal on Friday.

A quarter of a mile of winding path led her downward to the level of the
road. When she reached the stile, her thought was still far from the
matter she had promised to consider.

She turned to call her dog, and, knowing his insatiable curiosity, was
less surprised than annoyed to find that she had let him stray. She
could not remember whether she had last seen him behind her, in front,
or blundering through the undergrowth, still confident, in spite of
perpetual disappointment, in his power to overtake a rabbit.

Now the dog's temper, admirable with his friends, was uncertain with
strangers, and Amaryllis was accustomed to keep him close at heel in
public places. So, having whistled and called in vain, she crossed the
stile and looked down the road towards Iddingfield.

There was the tiresome beast, if you please, a hundred yards away,
gambolling clumsily round the legs of a man walking towards her.

Her second whistle brought the animal to a sense of duty, and he trotted
towards her, with many pauses to look back reluctantly at his new
friend.

She caught the dog's collar with the crook of her stick, and bent down,
slapping his muzzle in mild reproof.

As the stranger passed, his glance was downward, for the dog, rather
than the woman. As she stood erect, she saw him standing with his back
towards her, in the middle of the road, with face turned to