"All right," said Marmaduke, with alacrity. "Whatever you please. How
shall we go?"

"Anyhow. Let us go to Hampton by train. When we get there we can settle
what to do afterward. Can you come now?"

"Yes, whenever you are ready."

"Then I will run upstairs and dress. Go out and amuse yourself with
that blessed old lawn-mower until I come."

"Yes, I think I will," said Marmaduke, seriously. "That plot near the
gate wants a trimming badly."

"What a silly old chap you are, Bob!" she said, stopping to kiss him on
each cheek as she left the room.

Marmaduke had become attached to the pursuit of gardening since his
domestication. He put on his hat; went out; and set to work on the plot
near the gate. The sun was shining brightly; and when he had taken a few
turns with the machine he stopped, raising his face to the breeze, and
saw Conolly standing so close to him that he started backward, and made
a vague movement as if to ward off a blow. Conolly, who seemed amused by
the mowing, said quietly: "That machine wants oiling: the clatter
prevented you from hearing me come. I have just returned from Carbury
Towers. Miss Lind is staying there; and she has asked me to give you a
message."

This speech perplexed Marmaduke. He inferred from it that Conolly was
ignorant of Susanna's proceedings, but he had not sufficient effrontery