for what happened before?" She did not look
into his face as she asked this question, but stood with her eyes
fixed on the stair-carpet.

"Indeed no."

"Good night, Frank."

"Good night, Lizzie." Then she went, and he returned to a room below
which had been prepared for purposes of tobacco and soda-water and
brandy.

"Why, Griff, you're rather out of sorts to-night," said Lord George
to his friend, before Frank had joined them.

"So would you be out of sorts if you'd lost your run and had to pick
a young woman out of the water. I don't like young women when they're
damp and smell of mud."

"You mean to marry her, I suppose?"

"How would you like me to ask you questions? Do you mean to marry the
widow? And, if you do, what'll Mrs. Carbuncle say? And if you don't,
what do you mean to do; and all the rest of it?"

"As for marrying the widow, I should like to know the facts first.
As to Mrs. C., she wouldn't object in the least. I generally have
my horses so bitted that they can't very well object. And as to the
other question, I mean to stay here for the next fortnight, and I
advise you to make it square with Miss Roanoke. Here's my lady's
cousin; for a man who doesn't ride often, he went very well to-day."

"I wonder if he'd take a twenty-pound note if I sent it to him," said
Frank, when they broke up for the night. "I don't like the idea of
riding such a fellow's horse for nothing."

"He'll bring an action against the railway, and then you can offer to
pay if you like." Mr. Nappie did bring an action against the railway,
claiming exorbitant damages;--but with what result, we need not
trouble ourselves to inquire.

CHAPTER XLI

"Likewise the Bears in Couples Agree"

Frank Greystock stayed till the following Monday at Portray, but
could not be induced to hunt on the Saturday,--on which day the other
sporting men and women went to the meet. He could not, he said, trust
to that traitor MacFarlane, and he feared that his friend Mr. Nappie
would not give him another mount on the grey horse. Lizzie offered
him one of her two darlings,--an offer which he, of course, refused;
and Lord George also proposed to put him up. But Frank averred that
he had ridden his hunt for that season, and would not jeopardise the
laurels he had gained. "And, moreover," said he, "I should not dare
to meet Mr. Nappie in the field." So he remained at the castle and
took a walk with Mr. Emilius. Mr. Emilius asked a good many q