“Nice day,” said Dr. O’Grady. “How’s Mr. Ford?” Mrs. Ford acknowledged this greeting with a stiff, scarcely perceptible bow. Dr. O’Grady realised at once that she was angry, very seriously angry about something. Under ordinary circumstances Mrs. Ford’s anger would not have caused Dr. O’Grady any uneasiness. She was nearly always angry with someone, and however angry she might be she would be obliged to call on Dr. O’Grady for assistance if either she or her husband fell ill. There was no other doctor in the neighbourhood. The simplest and easiest thing, under the circumstances, would have been to pass on without comment, and to wait patiently until Mrs. Ford either caught influenza or was so deeply offended with someone else as to forget her anger against him. Society in small country towns is held together very largely by the fact that it is highly inconvenient, if not actually impossible, to keep two quarrels burning briskly at the same time. When, a week or two before, Mrs. Ford had been seriously angry with Mrs. Gregg, she confided her grievances to Dr. O’Grady. Now that she was annoyed with him she would be compelled to condone Mrs. Gregg’s offence in order to tell her what Dr. O’Grady had done. In due time, so Dr. O’Grady knew, he would be forgiven in order that he might listen to the story of the quarrel, which by that time she would have picked with Major Kent. Therefore the doctor’s first impulse was to imitate the Levite in the parable, and, having looked at Mrs. Ford with sympathy, to pass by on the other side. But Dr. O’Grady was engaged in a great enterprise. He did not see how Mrs. Ford’s anger could make or mar the success of the Lord-Lieutenant’s visit to Ballymoy, but he could not afford to take risks. No wise general likes to leave even a small wood on the flank of his line of march without discovering whether there is anything in it or not. Dr. O’Grady determined to find out, if he could, what Mrs. Ford was sulking about. “I daresay you have heard,” he said, “about the Lord-Lieutenant’s visit to Ballymoy. The date isn’t fixed yet, but——” Mrs. Ford sniffed and walked on without speaking. Dr. O’Grady was not the kind of man who is easily baffled. He turned round and walked beside her. “I needn’t tell you,” he said, “that the visit may mean a good deal to Mr. Ford. We’ve all felt for a long time that his services and ability entitle him to some recognition from the Government.” Mrs. Ford was quite unmollified. She walked on without looking round. She even walked a little quicker than she had been walking before. This was a foolish thing to do. She was a fat and elderly lady. Some of her clothes, if not all of them, were certainly too tight for her. The doctor was young and in good condition. She could not possibly hope to outstrip him in a race.