"I can't imagine.

And I don't think I'll try." She stooped and kissed the untidy lady in the chair.

The Duchess bore it again, but the lines of her mouth, with the strong droop at the corners, became a trifle grim.

Chloe looked at her, smiled, shook her head.

The Duchess shook hers, and then they both began to talk of an engagement announced that morning in the _Times_.
* * * * * Mrs.Fairmile was soon riding alone, without a groom--she was an excellent horse-woman, and she never gave any unnecessary trouble to her friends' servants--through country lanes chequered with pale sun.