"
"Nay, madam; though Lord Hartledon may not be here, Mr. Elster is."
She had actually forgotten Val; and would have liked to ignore him now
that he was recalled to remembrance; but that might not be. As much
contempt as could be expressed in her face was there, as she turned her
snub nose and small round eyes defiantly upon that unoffending younger
brother.
"I was going to request you to take it, sir," said Percival, in low
tones, to Dr. Ashton. "I shall go off in the pony-carriage for Edward.
He must think we are neglecting him."
"Very well. I hate these rowing matches," heartily added the Rector.
"What a curious old fish that parson must be!" ejaculated young Carteret
to his next neighbour. "He says he doesn't like boating."
It happened to be Arthur Ashton, and the lad's brow lowered. "You are
speaking of my father," he said. "But I'll tell you why he does not like
it. He had a brother once, a good deal older than himself; they had no
father, and Arthur--that was the elder--was very fond of him: there were
only those two. He took him out in a boat one day, and there was an
accident: the eldest was drowned, the little one saved. Do you wonder
that my father has dreaded boating ever since? He seems to have the same
sort of dread of it that a child who has been frightened by its nurse has
of the dark."
"By Jove! that was a go, though!" was the sympathising comment of Mr.
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