It will not do: do you understand?"
"I was just thinking the same thing yesterday--that your lordship was
always meeting _me_," said Pike. "No offence on either side, I dare say."
Val walked on, throwing the man a significant look of warning, but
vouchsafing no other reply. After that Pike was a little more cautious,
and kept aloof for a time; but Val knew that he was still watched on
occasion.
One fine October day, when the grain had been gathered in and the fields
were bare with stubble, Hartledon, alone in one of the front rooms, heard
a contest going on outside. Throwing up the window, he saw his young son
attempting to mount the groom's pony: the latter objecting. At the door
stood a low basket carriage, harnessed with the fellow pony. They
belonged to Lady Hartledon; sometimes she drove only one; and the groom,
a young lad of fourteen, light and slim, rode the other: sometimes both
ponies were in the carriage; and on those occasions the boy sat by her
side, and drove.
"What's the matter, Edward?" called out Lord Hartledon to his son.
"Young lordship wants to ride the pony, my lord," said the groom. "My
lady ordered me to ride it."
At this juncture Lady Hartledon appeared on the scene, ready for her
drive. She had intended to take her little son with her--as she generally
did--but the child boisterously demanded that he should ride the pony for
once, and she weakly yielded.
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