His time also was limited.
"Yes ?" he called over his shoulder, as he wheeled round and began to ride away.

"And ?" "And as many more as I can spare," cried Nan, and with a wave of her hand turned to enter the house.
The laugh was still on her lips as she mounted the steps.

The hall-door stood open, and her father's voice hailed her from within.
"Hallo, Nan, you scapegrace! What mad-cap trick will you be up to next, I wonder ?" There was a decided note of uneasiness behind the banter of his tone which her quick ear instantly detected.

She looked up sharply and in a second, as if at a touch of magic, the laughter all died out of her face.
A man was standing in the glow of the lamp-light slightly behind her father, a man of medium height and immense breadth, with a clean-shaven, heavy-browed face, and sombre eyes that watched her silently..