I want to go down to the paddocks and have
a look at the yearlings. How are they coming on? Have you anything
good?"

"Two or three promising fillies. They're in the paddock nearest the
Long Water. You'll find them as quiet as sheep. But I'll ask you not to
go in among the brood-mares and foals unless Chifney is with you. They
may be a bit savage and shy, and it is not altogether safe for a lady."

He stretched out his hand, taking Lady Calmady's hand for a moment.

"Dear mother, you look tired. You'll have to put up with Grimshott. The
weather's not going to let us off. Go and rest till we start."

And when, a few minutes later, Katharine, departing, closed the door
behind her, he addressed Miss St. Quentin again.

"How do you think my mother is?"

"Beautifully well."

"Not worried?"

"No," Honoria said.

"You are really quite contented about her, then?"

The question both surprised and touched his hearer as a friendly and
gracious admission that she possessed certain rights.

"Oh dear, yes," she said. "I am more than contented about her. No one
can fail to be so who, loving her, sees her now. There was just one
thing she wanted. Now she has it, and so all is well."

"What one thing?" Dickie asked, with a hint of irony in his manner and
his voice.

"Why, you--you, Richard," Honoria said.

She drew herself up proudly, a little alarmed by, a little defiant of,
the directness of her own speech, perceiving, so soon as she had
uttered it, that it might be construed as indirect reproach. And to
administer reproach had been very far from her purpose. She fixed her
eyes upon the domes of the great oaks, crowning an outstanding knoll at
the far end of the lime avenue. The foliage of them, deep green shading
to russet, was arrestingly solid and metallic, offering a rather
magnificent scheme of stormy colour taken in connection with the hot
purple of the uprolling cloud. Framed by the stone work of the open
window, the whole presented a fine picture in the manner of Salvator
Rosa. A few, bright raindrops splashed and splattered, and the thunder
growled far away in the north. The atmosphere was heavy. For a time
neither spoke. Then Honoria said, gently, as one asking a favour:--

"Richard, will you tell me about that home of yours? Cousin Katherine
was speaking of it to me last night."

And it seemed to her his thought must have journeyed to some far
distance, and found difficulty in returning thence, it was so