'He might have been as impudent as he liked to me; I would have pardoned
him!' Rosamund exclaimed. Personally, you see, she was generous. On
the whole, knowing Everard Romfrey as she did, she wished that she had
behaved, albeit perfectly discreet in her behaviour, and conscientiously
just, a shade or two differently. But the evil was done.




CHAPTER XIV

THE LEADING ARTICLE AND MR. TIMOTHY TURBOT

Nevil declined to come to Steynham, clearly owing to a dread of hearing
Dr. Shrapnel abused, as Rosamund judged by the warmth of his written
eulogies of the man, and an ensuing allusion to Game. He said that he
had not made up his mind as to the Game Laws. Rosamund mentioned the
fact to Mr. Romfrey. 'So we may stick by our licences to shoot to-
morrow,' he rejoined. Of a letter that he also had received from Nevil,
he did not speak. She hinted at it, and he stared. He would have deemed
it as vain a subject to discourse of India, or Continental affairs, at a
period when his house was full for the opening day of sport, and the
expectation of keeping up his renown for great bags on that day so
entirely occupied his mind. Good shots were present who had contributed
to the fame of Steynham on other opening days. Birds were plentiful and
promised not to be too wild. He had the range of the Steynham estate in
his eye, dotted with covers; and after Steynham, Holdesbury, which had
never yielded him the same high celebrity, but both lay mapped out for
action under the profound calculations of the strategist, ready to show
the skill of the field tactician. He could not attend to Nevil. Even