It came to him--as it had come to Saltash--that there was something piteously like a small animal, storm-driven and seeking refuge, about her. Even in her merriest moments she seemed to plead for kindness. He patted her shoulder reassuringly as he let her go. "I'll look after you," he said, "if you play the game." "What game?" said Toby unexpectedly. He looked her squarely in the eyes. "The only game worth playing," he said. "The straight game." "Oh, I see," said Toby with much meekness. "Not cheat, you mean? Lord Saltash doesn't allow cheating either." "Good land!" said Jake in open astonishment. "You don't know him," said Toby again with conviction. And Jake laughed, good-humoured but sceptical. "Maybe I've something to learn yet," he said tolerantly. "But it's my impression that for sheer mischief and double-dealing he could knock spots off any other human being on this earth." "Oh, if that's all you know about him," said Toby, "you've never even met him--never once." "Have you?" questioned Jake abruptly. She coloured up to the soft fair hair that clustered about her blue-veined temples, and turned from him with an odd little indrawn breath. "Yes!" she said. "Yes!"--paused an instant as if about to say more; then again in a whisper, "Yes!" she said, and went lightly away as if the subject were too sacred for further discussion. "Good land!" said Jake again, and departed to his own room in grim amazement. Saltash the sinner was well known to him and by no means uncongenial; but Saltash the saint, not only beloved, but reverenced and enshrined as such, as something beyond his comprehension! How on earth had he managed to achieve his sainthood? CHAPTER IX THE IDOL "Well?" said Saltash with quizzical interest. "Where is she? And how is she getting on?" It was the Sunday afternoon of his promised visit, a day soft with spring showers and fleeting sunshine. Maud sat in a basket-chair on the verandah and regarded him with puzzled eyes. She passed his questions by. "Charlie," she said, "where does she come from?" He raised his shoulders expressively. "Where do all women come from--and why, _chère reine_? It would be such a peaceful planet without them." He was in a baffling mood, and she knew better than to pursue the subject under those conditions. She abandoned her effort with a sigh. "She is not a woman; she is a child, very charming but utterly irresponsible. She is in the training field just now with Jake and Bunny. She is a positive delight to Jake. She can do anything with the horses." "But not such a delight to you?" suggested Saltash shrewdly. Maud hesitated momentarily. "I love her of course," she said then. "But--though I have tried to make her feel at ease--I think she is a little afraid of me--afraid anyhow to be quite natural in my presence." "But are we any of us that?" protested Saltash. "Are we not all on our best behaviour in the audience-chamber?"