“You need not think I am offended because you wouldn’t let me help you,” and went off to the billiard-room. Wilfred was the most notorious reprobate of the lot; but the instincts of a gentleman showed oftener in him than in the others. Annie went on to the drawing-room, where her husband, reproaching her for being so long, seized the paper from her. But his hands and eyes were too unsteady to find what he wanted, and she had to find and read it out to him. The passage, about the pace of a celebrated American trotting-mare, proved Harry to be right, and he triumphed loudly, not thinking to thank his wife for her trouble. Then he asked her to write to their late lodging for a pipe and pair of spurs he had left behind, and again she quietly left the room, and went into the study to do so. This time it was William who interrupted her. He knocked softly at the door, and came in rather shyly. “I thought I’d show you where the pens and paper are,” said he; and he collected the writing materials for her and hunted for a stamp while she wrote. Then, when she had directed the envelope, he put the stamp on and brought his fist down upon it with an unnecessary thump. “What is that for?” “That’s to make it stick, of course.” For the first time that evening Annie burst out laughing. The boy threw his arms round her and gave her a sounding kiss. “I’m so glad to hear you laugh again. You looked as if you would never laugh any more. And I’m so glad you’re come, so jolly glad!” She was laughing and crying together now, as she drew the boy’s face to her and kissed his cheek. “And I’m so glad you’re glad. We’ll have another game at shuttlecock to-morrow.” “Oh, no,” he said earnestly; “I’ve got something better than that for you to-morrow. I’ve got a new terrier, the gamest you ever saw, and we’ll have the most splendid rat-hunt you ever were at in your life.” CHAPTER VIII.