"No," he declared; "it must not be. This is a matter in which delay is almost worse than dangerous. I must go to him at once and tell him all." Miss Maynard yielded. She was not disinclined to have their little mutual understanding publicly announced, if only to gratify Miss Gigsby and one or two other young ladies. "Yes, Em," he continued, "I will go at once, and doubt will be ended." They went together to the end of the lane, then she departed to do a few little errands in the town, and the Rev. John Roland went on his visit to Major Clifford. CHAPTER III THE LADY'S LOVER The Major waited for his visitor--waited in a mood which, in spite of his promise to Miss Maynard, promised unpleasantness for Mr. Spooner. Time passed on, and he did not come. The Major paced up and down stairs, to and from the windows, and from room to room. Finally, he took a large meerschaum pipe from the mantelshelf in the smoking-room and smoked it in the drawing-room, a thing he would not have dared to do--very properly--if Miss Maynard had been at home. "I promised young Trafford I'd go and see what I thought of that new gun of his," growled the Major, "and here's that jackanapes keeping me in to listen to his insulting twaddle." The Major probably forgot that at any rate the jackanapes in question had no appointment with him. At last he threw open the window, and thrusting his head out, looked up and down the street to see if he could catch a glimpse of the expected Spooner. "The fellow's playing with me!" he told himself considerably above a whisper. "Like his confounded impudence!" Suddenly he caught sight of a shovel hat and clerical garments turning the street corner, and re-entering the room with some loss of dignity, commenced reading the "Broad Arrow" upside down. Presently there was a knock at the street door, and a stranger was shown upstairs unannounced. "I have called," he began. The Major rose. "I am perfectly aware why you have called," said he. "My niece is not at home." "No," said the visitor. "I am aware--" "But," continued the Major, who meant to carry the thing with a high hand, and give Mr. Spooner clearly to understand what his opinions were, "she has commissioned me to deal with the matter in her name." The Rev. John Roland--for it was the Rev. John Roland--looked somewhat mystified. He failed to see the drift of the Major's observation, and also did not fail to see that, for some reason, his reception was not exactly what he would have wished it to be. "I regret," he began, with the Major standing bolt upright, glancing at him with an air of a martinet lecturing an unfortunate sub for neglect of duty, "that it is my painful duty--" "Sir," said the Major, stiff as a poker, "you need regret nothing." The Rev. John Roland looked at him. It was very kind of him to say so, but a little premature.