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expecting him, and I had wound my plaits to form a coronet on the top of my head.

    I went out into the drive just as he came up. He swept off his hat in a manner which I knew would be called ” daft” by Fanny, but I thought it elegant and the height of courtesy.

    ” So you came!” I said. ” Dog Friday will recover. I’ve christened him after the day on which he was found.”

    He had dismounted and at that moment Mary appeared. I made her call one of the stable-boys to lead his horse round to the stable, and water and feed him. 21 ” Come in,” I said, and when Gabriel came into the hall, the house seemed brighter for his presence.

    ” Let me take you up to the drawing-room,” I said, ” and I will ring for tea.”

    He followed me up the stairs while I told him how I was treating Friday. ” I shall bring him down to show you. You will see a great improvement.”

    In the drawing-room I pulled back the curtains and drew up the Venetian blinds. Now it seemed more cheerful or perhaps that was due to Gabriel. When he sat in one of the arm-chairs, and smiled at me, I was conscious that in my blue velvet with my neatly plaited hair I looked very different from the girl in the riding-habit.

    ” I’m glad you were able to save him,” he said.

    ” You did that.”

    He looked pleased and I rang the bell, which was’ almost immediately answered by Janet.

    She-stared at my visitor and, when I told her to bring tea, she looked as though I were asking for the moon.

    Five minutes later Fanny came in; she had an indignant air and I felt angry with her. She would have to realise that I was now mistress of the house.

    ” So it’s visitors,” said Fanny ungraciously.

    ” Yes, Fanny, we have a visitor. Pray see that tea is not long delayed.”

    Fanny pursed her lips; I could see that she was trying to make some retort, but I turned my back on her and said to Gabriel: ” I trust you did not have to ride far.”

    ” From the Black Hart Inn in Tomblersbury.”

    I knew Tomblersbury. It was a small village, rather like our own, some five or six miles away. ‘” You are staying at the Black Hart?”

    ” Yes, for a short while.”

    ” You must be on holiday.”

    ” You could call it that.”

    “Your home is in Yorkshire, Mr. Rockwell? But I am asking too many questions.”

    I was aware that Fanny had left the room. I could imagine her going to the kitchen or perhaps to my father’s study. She would consider it most unseemly for me to entertain a gentle man alone. Let heri It was time she and my father under stood that the life I was called upon to live was not only exceedingly lonely but one unsuitable for a young lady of my education.

    “No,” he replied, “please ask me as many questions a& you like. If I cannot answer them, I shall say so.”

    ” Where is your home, Mr. Rockwell?”

    ” The house is called Kirkland Revels, and it is situated in the village or rather on the outskirts of the village of Kirkland Moorside.”

    ” Kirkland Revels! That sounds joyous.”

    The expression which flitted across his face was enough to tell me that my remark made him uncomfortable. It had told me something else; he was not happy in his home life. Was that the reason for that moodiness of his? I ought to have curbed my curiosity regarding his private affairs but I found it exceedingly difficult to do so.

    I said quickly: ” Kirkland Moorside … is that far from here?”

    ” Some thirty miles perhaps.”

    “And you are on holiday in this district, and you were taking a ride on the moors when …”

    ” When our little adventure occurred. You cannot be more glad than I am that it happened.”

    I felt reassured that the temporary awkwardness was past and I said: “
    If you will excuse me, I will bring Friday down to show you.”

    When I returned with the dog, my father was in the room. I guessed Fanny had insisted on his joining us and that even he had ‘been conscious of the proprieties.