They were on the verge of one of the quarrels which frequently relieved the monotony of their friendship. But Mabella thought better of it. Her spite had found an ample field in which to disport itself for the present, and she felt it wise to concentrate her forces. "Don't be silly!" she said calmly. "Here comes that boy--bravo, Mr Calthorp! Now listen, Trix, let's get in before them, and you be sure to back up any remark I may make. I think I may have a chance of insinuating something already. But leave it to me--you're too clumsy-- for remember I shall not say one word that could be brought up against us, should it go great lengths, and _you_ would." "And if it does go great lengths, what will happen?" inquired Beatrix, slightly aghast. "A nice mess for Major Rex; that's all _I_ care about," answered Mabella. "Goodness, how those dogs are pulling. They'd have strangled themselves or torn the gate-post down if we'd kept them waiting much longer. Thank you, Mr Calthorp, I think we had better leave them to Trixie. They know her more intimately than they do us. Discretion is sometimes the better part of valour." And she stood by coolly, while Beatrix struggled to loosen Gunner and Plunger, nearly knocking Mr Calthorp down in their first rush of freedom. "You would have been safer beside me after all," said Trixie contemptuously to her two "discreet" companions. The other party, meanwhile, were wending their way home in a more decorous manner. Oliver, somewhat disillusioned by Imogen's unfair reproach, had re-attached himself to Mrs Wyngate. Florence, satisfied that Rex had undertaken for the time the "personal conduct" of his self-imposed _protegee_, walked on silently between the two couples, apparently one of the group, in reality thinking her own thoughts, though feeling a degree less entirely sad and hopeless than usual, thanks to the glimmer of reflected light she had been conscious of in her conversation with her cousin. And Major Winchester, too, felt a little cheered. He began to have hopes of Florence, and he realised, though by no means for the first time, that his own sorrows were not without their brighter side. Then he was touched, even gratified, by Imogen's confidence in him, and he felt that she deserved some return. So he devoted himself to her anew, and this time their talk called for less effort on his part--they seemed to grow rather more on a level, as half unconsciously the conversation became of a somewhat personal kind. "I'm sure Mrs Wentworth will say I did right in preventing your going over to the enemy in that traitorous fashion; don't you think so?" Major Winchester began. He spoke in a light half-rallying tone, for at first Imogen preserved her dignified silence, and he felt uncertain as to how the ground lay. The girl gave her head the very slightest possible toss, as she replied: