"Awfully sad; I say, do you think she'd join the hunt?" Suddenly his eyes lit up, and he started to attention. "We do want some more subscribers jolly badly. If Leonore----" "Not just at present, my dear,--but, yes, certainly, by-and-by, when she has settled down here, and left off her weeds." "Her what?" he stared. "Her widow's weeds, dear boy. The poor child must wear them, you know. White collars and cuffs, and that kind of thing. Happily she need not disfigure her sweet face by a frightful cap as _I_ had to do." "Oh, Lor! Do you mean Leo will have to turn out in a thing like that?" "My dear, I just said she would _not_." "But she might, he-he-he!" he chuckled, but the next moment was again preternaturally grave. "I had no idea. Poor Leo!" This was better. The old lady sighed sympathetically. "Yes, indeed. Poor Leo! You always liked Leo, Val?" "Rather. I can't imagine her in a beastly widow's cap, he-he-he! It's a beastly shame, but I can't help laughing." "It does seem incongruous. I don't wonder that you can hardly picture that bright little sunbeam of a face with those golden curls hanging round it----" "She's not as good-looking as Maud, you know." "Indeed I think she is a great deal better looking," said Mrs. Purcell, shortly. But she knew better than to argue the point, and resorted to one more likely to yield a favourable result. "You were talking about Leonore's joining the hunt; and I fancy if you are content to wait a little and approach the matter delicately, she is quite likely to be persuaded. Every one knows that it is only stinginess on General Boldero's part which stands in the way of his daughters' hunting. _That_ need not affect Leonore, who will now be quite independent, and can keep as many horses as she chooses." "You don't say so? Yoicks! I'll be at her like a shot." "And you can offer to pilot her, you know. She will be nervous at first." "Oh, I'll pilot her. But she can ride all right, for we used to have great larks when they were out on their ponies, and Leo was always the best of the bunch. It will be fun if I can get her to follow hounds, and the hunt will be awfully obliged to me." "Don't let any one else--it is your idea, and you ought to have the benefit of it." "Trust me for that, ma'am," looking very wise. "I've never brought them a subscriber yet, and it would be jolly mean of any one to try to cut me out." "If it is suggested, you must pooh-pooh the notion." "How can I though, when I'm thinking of it all the time myself?"