Then she got frightened, and welcomed effusively the apparition of Trixie and her satellites. "Oh do," said Mabella, insinuatingly. "I'll take one hand and Mr Calthorp the other, as Trixie will have enough to do with the beasts. So you shan't come to grief even when we go at full-speed down Grey Bray.--Noll, won't you come?" "Many thanks, no," said Oliver, dryly. Something in his tone made Imogen hesitate in the acceptance of the invitation she had been on the point of. She glanced half longingly towards Beatrix; but before she had time to speak, before Florence had time to break in with what, though well-meant, would probably have been an entirely ineffectual remonstrance, Major Winchester took the matter in his own hands. "Miss Wentworth has had fatigue enough," he said. "I know what your `good races' are, Trixie. Besides which, I promised Mrs Wentworth to bring her daughter safely home." "Looks like it," murmured Trixie, who had drawn near him, "when you left her all to herself in the cave." No one but Rex himself heard the words, and he went on, without apparently taking any notice of the impertinence, "And I mean to do so." Imogen's face flushed with mingled feelings, but she did not speak. "You will stay with us--with Florence and me," said Major Winchester, turning to her, and speaking very gently. The pink on the girl's fair face grew into crimson. "Very well," she said, not too generously, though with an undertone of submission which pleased Rex, who at heart, it must be confessed, was a bit of a martinet. The group divided. Miss Forsyth, Beatrix, and their attendant turning off to the right in the direction of a low wall of loose stones which they proceeded to clamber over. "You might have cleared it, surely, Mr Calthorp," said Trixie, contemptuously. "I'll do it now: what'll you bet?" said the young man. He proceeded to execute his boast, thereby, as the girl had foreseen, giving her and her friend a few moments to themselves. "What a donkey he is, to be sure!" said Mabella. "What do you want to say, Trix?" "Only this--didn't I do it splendidly? Nothing pulls the strings for Rex like contradiction. He will be devoted to her all the rest of the afternoon, and she will imagine it's all the result of her fascinations. Really, it's the best joke I've had for ever so long." "Provided Florry doesn't step in and spoil it all," said Mab. "Florry!" ejaculated Beatrix. "She's more than half stupefied still. She sees nothing but what is forced upon her. It's really extraordinary how hard she's been hit. I couldn't have half believed it of one of _us_." She ended with a light laugh. "Nor could I," said her companion. "To do you justice, there's uncommonly little heart among you." "Now don't be rude," said Beatrix. "What do _you_ know? Don't you begin setting up to be as good as Florry, my dear, or--"