remarked,
when Victoria was out of hearing.

Since Mrs. Harry Haynes ran off, one can never tell what a woman will do.
It wouldn't surprise me a bit if Victoria eloped with a handsome nobody
like that. Of course he's after her money, but he wouldn't get it, not if
I know Augustus Flint."

"Is he handsome?" said Mr. Crewe, as though the idea were a new one.
"Great Scott, I don't believe she gives him a thought. She's only going
as far as the field with him. She insisted on leaving her horse there
instead of putting him in the stable."

"Catch Alice going as far as the field with him," said Mrs. Pomfret, "but
I've done my duty. It's none of my affair."

In the meantime Austen and Victoria had walked on some distance in
silence.

"I have an idea with whom Mr. Crewe is in love," he said at length.

"So have I," replied Victoria, promptly. "Humphrey's in love with
himself. All he desires in a wife--if he desires one--is an inanimate and
accommodating looking-glass, in whom he may see what he conceives to be
his own image daily. James, you may take the mare home. I'm going to
drive with Mr. Vane."

She stroked Pepper's nose while Austen undid the hitch-rope from around
his neck.

"You and I are getting to be friends, aren't we, Pepper?" she asked, as
the horse, with quivering nostrils, thrust his head into her hand. Then
she sprang lightly into the buggy by Austen's side. The manner of these
acts and the generous courage with which she defied opinion appealed to
him so strongly that his heart was beating faster than Pepper's
hoof-beats on the turf of the pasture.

"You are very good to come with me," he said gravely, when they had
reached the road; "perhaps I ought not to have asked you."

"Why?" she asked, with one of her direct looks.

"It was undoubtedly selfish," he said, and added, more lightly, "I don't
wish to put you into Mrs. Pomfret's bad graces."

Victoria laughed.

"She thought it her duty to tell father the time you drove me to the
Hammonds'. She said I asked you to do it."

"What did he say?" Austen inquired, looking straight ahead of him.

"He didn't say much," she answered. "Father never does. I think he knows
that I am to be trusted."

"Even with me?" he asked quizzically, but with a deeper significance.

"I don't think he realizes how dangerous you are," she replied, avoiding
the issue. "The last time I saw you, you were actually trying to throw a
fat man out of your window. What a viol