Holding out a small and shapely hand in a dainty leather gauntlet she
said in a frank and pleasant manner:

"How do you do, Mr. Wargrave? You are a fortunate person to have been in
England so lately. I haven't seen it for nearly three years. Weren't you
sorry to leave it?"

"Not in the least, Mrs. Norton. I'd far sooner be doing this," he waved
his hand towards the horses and the open desert, "than fooling about
Piccadilly and the Park."

"Oh, but don't you miss the gaieties of town, the theatres, the dances?
And then the shops and the new fashions--but you're a man, and they'd
mean nothing to you."

The Maharajah broke in:

"Mrs. Norton, I think we had better mount. The beaters are going in; and
the _shikaris_ (hunters) tell me that the _nullah_ swarms with pig.
There are at least half a dozen rideable boar in it."

In pigsticking only well-grown boars are pursued, sows and immature
boars being unmolested.

Ross started forward to help Mrs. Norton on to her fresh pony; but
Wargrave refused to surrender the advantage of his proximity to her. So
it was into his hand she put her small foot in its well-made riding-boot
and was swung up by him.

The saddles of the rest of the party had been changed on to the horses