nd she had achieved her
objects to a wonderful degree. But she had made no friends. She did not
wish to make friends among the Southerners. She despised them and all
their customs, and though in the beginning they had made many gracious
overtures of friendship she had repulsed them at every turn. Consequently
they soon began to regard her with indifference if not with contempt.
There was absolutely nothing in common between them. She was merely a
business proposition in their midst. Their children could acquire beneath
her roof the education they desired for them, and there it ended. If, as
rumor stated, she really came of gentle Northern blood it must have
received a very peculiar infusion in her immediate forebears. They missed
something of the noblesse oblige which was to them as a matter of course.
So with each passing year the gulf had imperceptibly widened until Miss
Woodhull was as much alone in hospitable Virginia as though she lived in
Borneo.

Upon realizing that Beverly was really missing her first impulse was to
phone to Kilton Hall, for, of course, she had risen early and rushed off
to see Athol. Miss Woodhull's blood boiled at the thought! Kilton Hall of
all places the one she detested most. It had been a thorn in her flesh
from the moment she knew of its existence for its policy was
diametrically opposed to her own. Still, inquiries must be made without
further delay, but she would be discreet. So she called the school up by
phone:

"Had they seen anything of a stray horse? One of her pupil's horses had
escaped during the night and she was phoning in every direction in her
endeavors to find it. It was Miss Ashby's horse and he might have made
his way as far as the hall."

"No, there was no stray animal there, but Dr. Kilton would have a
thorough search made in their neighborhood."

But Dr. Kilton was a far cry from being a fool. Why should Miss Woodhull
think a runaway horse had run all that distance? And if he _had_ Dr.
Kilton was fully convinced that he had not run riderless. He had not
forgotten that October runaway. Moreover, he had detected a repressed
excitement in the voice over that phone. He very quietly conferred with
Mrs. Kilton and that lady was quite as quick-witted as her spouse. They
decided to maintain a discreet silence, but to make some quiet inquiries.
A few hours later Smedes, the Doctor's body servant, was sent upon an
errand to the little village nearest Leslie Manor, and Smedes