Part 37 (2/2)
Bunny saw and quickly grappled with the danger. ”Give him the chance!” he urged softly into her ear. ”You won't be sorry--afterwards.”
She did not lift her eyes, but somehow the enchantment held. By a bold stroke he had entered her defences, and she could not for the moment drive him out. She was silent.
”You'll come?” whispered Bunny.
They were nearing a little group of ponies that were being held in readiness at the end of the field. Toby quickened her pace.
He kept beside her, but he did not speak again. And perhaps his silence moved her more than speech, for she gave a little impulsive turn towards him and threw him her sudden, boyish smile.
”All right. We'll come,” she said.
”Hooray!” crowed Bunny softly.
”But I shan't stay long,” she warned him. ”And if I don't like it, I shall never come again.”
”You will like it,” said Bunny with confidence.
”I wonder,” said Toby with her chin in the air.
CHAPTER III
L'OISEAU BLEU
Bunny surpa.s.sed himself that afternoon. Wherever he went, success seemed to follow, and shouts of applause reached him from all quarters.
”That young fellow is a positive genius,” commented General Melrose, who had a keen eye for the game. ”He ought to be in the Service. Why isn't he, Mrs. Bolton?”
”He wasn't considered strong enough,” Maud said. ”It was a great disappointment to him. You see, he spent the whole of his childhood on his back with spine trouble. And when that was put right he outgrew his strength.”
”Ah! I remember now. You used to wheel the poor little beggar about in a long chair. Well, he's rather different now from what he was in those days. Not much the matter with him, is there?”
”Nothing now,” Maud said.
”What does he do with himself?” asked the General, surveying the distant figure at that moment galloping in a far corner of the field.
”He is agent on Lord Saltash's estate at Burchester,” his daughter said, suddenly entering the conversation. ”He was telling me about it at luncheon. He and Lord Saltash are friends.”
”Ah! To be sure!” General Melrose's look suddenly came to Maud and she felt herself colour a little.
”He is an old friend of the family,” she said. ”We live not far from the Castle. My husband owns the Graydown Stables.”
”Oh, I know that,” the General said courteously. ”I know your husband, Mrs. Bolton, and I am proud to know him. What I did not know until to-day was that he was your husband. I never heard of your marriage.”
”We have been married for eight years,” she said with a smile.
”It must be at least ten since I saw you last,” he said. ”This girl of mine--Sheila--must have been at school in those days. You never met her?”
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