Immediately John Stanway caught sight of her he said a few words to the
lawyer in a somewhat different key, and descended from his vehicle. As
she came up to them Mr. Dain saluted her with bashful abruptness, and
her proud face broke as if by the loosing of a spell into a generous and
captivating smile; Mr. Dain blushed, the vision was too much for his
composure; he moved his horse forward a yard or two, and then jerked it
back again, gruffly advising it to stand still. Stanway turned to her
bluntly, unceremoniously, as to a creature to whom he owed nothing. She
noticed once more how the whole character of his face was changed under
annoyance.

'Here, Nora!' he said, speaking with the raw anger of a man with a
new-born grievance, 'run this home for me. I'm going over to Hanbridge
with Mr. Dain.'

'Very well,' she agreed with soothing calmness, and taking the reins she
climbed up to the high driving-seat.

'And I say, Nora--Wo-_back_!' he flamed out passionately to the
impatient cob, 'where're your manners, you idiot? I say, Nora, I doubt I
shall be late for tea--half-past six. Tell Milly she must be in. The
others too.' He gave these instructions in a lower tone, and emphasised
them by a stormy and ominous frown. Then with an injured 'Now, Dain!' he
got into the equipage of his legal adviser and departed towards
Hanbridge, trailing clouds of vexation.

Leonora drove smartly but cautiously down the steep slope of Oldcastle
Street; she could drive as well as a woman may. A group of clay-soiled
girls lounging in the archway of a manufactory exchanged rude but
admiring remarks about her as she passed. The paces of the cob, the