"It would have been a little humiliating to remember, if that had
been true."

Then upon the ground she saw the shadow of Thresk's horse creep up until
the two rode side by side. She looked at him quickly with a doubtful
wavering smile and looked down again. What did all the trouble in his
face portend? Her heart thumped and she heard him say:

"Stella, I have something very difficult to say to you."

He laid a hand gently upon her arm, but she wrenched herself free. Shame
was upon her--shame unendurable. She tingled with it from head to foot.
She turned to him suddenly a face grown crimson and eyes which brimmed
with tears.

"Oh," she cried aloud, "that I should have been such a fool!" and she
swayed forward in her saddle. But before he could reach out an arm to
hold her she was upright again, and with a cut of her whip she was off
at a gallop.

"Stella," he cried, but she only used her whip the more. She galloped
madly and blindly over the grass, not knowing whither, not caring,
loathing herself. Thresk galloped after her, but her horse, maddened by
her whip and the thud of the hoofs behind, held its advantage. He settled
down to the pursuit with a jumble of thoughts in his brain.

"If to-day were only ten years on ... As it is it would be madness ...
madness and squalor and the end of everything ... Between us we
haven't a couple of pennies to rub together ... How she rides! ... She