"What good would it do, you know ?" she said with affected intimacy as he spoke of his difficulty about the ball.

"One would do anything if one could be of service,--but that would do nothing." She felt completely that her presence at the accident had given her a right to have peculiar conversations and to be consulted about everything.

Of course she was very sorry for Major Caneback.

But as it had been ordained that Major Caneback was to have his head split in two by a kick from a horse, and that Lord Rufford was to be there to see it, how great had been the blessing which had brought her to the spot at the same time! Everybody there saw the intimacy and most of them understood the way in which it was being used.

"That girl is very clever, Rufford," his sister whispered to him before dinner.