Part 5 (1/2)

”Quite casually. So far as nearly coming to a rough and tumble with the fellow for his cheek in scoffing our fly at the station const.i.tutes an acquaintance. Gifford acted as peacemaker, and we put up with the fellow's company to the town. But neither of us imbibed a particularly high opinion of the sportsman, did we, Hugh?”

”No,” Gifford a.s.sented; ”his was not a taking character, to men at any rate; and we rather wondered how he came to be going to the c.u.mberbatch Ball.”

”No doubt he got his ticket in the ordinary way,” Morriston said.

”It only shows, my dear d.i.c.k,” his sister observed, ”you may quite easily run risks in giving a semi-public dance in your own house.”

Morriston laughed. ”Oh, come, Edith,” he protested, ”we need not make too much of it. We don't know for certain that the man was a queer character.”

”One finds objectionable swaggerers everywhere,” Painswick put in.

”Anyhow,” said Kelson, ”if this Henshaw was a bad lot he had the decency to efface himself promptly enough. The puzzle is, what on earth has become of him?”

”I don't know, Mr. Gifford,” Morriston said as the two friends were leaving, ”whether you would care for a ramble over the old place. A man named Piercy has written to me for permission to go over the house; he is, it appears, writing a book on the antiquities of the county. I have asked him to luncheon to-morrow, and we shall be delighted if you and Kelson will join us as a preliminary to a personally conducted tour of the house. Charlie Tredworth and his sister are coming over for a week's stay, so we shall be quite a respectable party.”

Naturally Kelson accepted the invitation with alacrity, and Gifford could do no less than fall in with the arrangement.

”Hope you won't mind going over to Wynford,” Kelson said as they drove back. ”If it is at all painful to you from old a.s.sociations, I'll make an excuse for you.”

Gifford hesitated a moment. ”Oh, no,” he answered. ”I'll come. There is no use in being sentimental about the place going out of our family, and these Morristons are quite the right sort of people to have it. A splendidly thoroughbred type of girl, Miss Morriston.”

Kelson laughed. ”Oh, yes; a magnificent creature; cut out for a d.u.c.h.ess.

Only, you know, my dear Hugh, if I married a woman like that I should always be a little afraid of her. A magnificent chatelaine and all that, but too cold for my taste.”

”You think there is no deep feeling under the ice of her manner?”

”I don't know,” Kelson replied, as though the idea was quite novel to him. ”Never got so far as to think of that. I like a girl with whom you can get on without going through the process of thawing her first. And with Edith Morriston I should say it would be a slow process. Anyhow, she is just the girl for Painswick, who is evidently after her.”

”I should say that with him the ice is a little below the surface,”

Gifford ventured.

Kelson laughed. ”You've hit it, Hugh. He's easy enough, but scratch him and you come upon a very straight-laced aristocrat. He and the statuesque Edith Morriston are made for one another.”

As they entered the _Golden Lion_ the landlord met them.

”Well, Mr. Dipper, any news of your missing guest?” Kelson inquired with characteristic cheeriness, ignoring the troubled expression on that worthy's face.

”No, captain; and we can't imagine what has happened to Mr. Henshaw.

There are three telegrams come for him, and I have just got one, reply-paid, to ask whether he is staying here.”

”And you replied?”

”Went to Hunt Ball 9 last night. Not been here since,” Dipper quoted. ”It is rather awkward and unpleasant for me, sir,” he added uncomfortably.

”Oh, you've no responsibility in the matter,” Kelson a.s.sured him. ”Don't you worry about it, Mr. Dipper. If the man goes out and does not choose to come back, that, beyond the payment of your charges, can be no affair of yours. Isn't that so, Hugh?”

”Certainly,” Gifford a.s.sented.