days he had never exhibited--at all events to me--a taste for the ignobler
luxuries, and he had seemed to me a very clean-minded man. I never knew any
one who refrained so absolutely from allusion, good or bad, to his friends
or acquaintances. He might have stood utterly alone in the world, a simple
spectator of civilisation.

At length I ventured upon a question.

'You never see any of the Mortimer Street men?'

'No,' he answered carelessly, 'I haven't come in their way lately,
somehow.'

That evening our ramble led us into an enclosure where game was preserved.
We had lost our way, and Ireton, scornful of objections, struck across
country, making for a small plantation which he thought he remembered.
Here, among the trees, we were suddenly face to face with an old gentleman
of distinguished bearing, who regarded us sternly.

'Is it necessary,' he said, 'to tell you that you are trespassing?'

The tone was severe, but not offensive. I saw my companion draw himself to
his full height.

'Not at all necessary,' he answered, in a voice that surprised me, it was
so nearly insolent. 'We are making our way to the road as quickly as
possible.'

'Then be so good as to take the turning to the right when you reach the
field,' said our admonisher coldly. And he turned his back upon us.