"I wonder whether you were ever in any trouble in your life, Charlie," he said. Lord Charles drained the glass of whisky and water that stood beside him. "Yes," he said; "but I'm like a duck, it pours off my back, and there I am again." "I wish I were like a duck!" said Leycester, with bitter self-scorn. "Charlie, you have the misfortune to be tied to a haunted man. I am haunted by the ghost of an old and lost happiness, and I can't get rid of it." Charlie looked at him and then away. "I know," he said; "I haven't said anything, but I know. Well, I am not surprised; she is a beautiful creature, and one of the sort to stick in a man's mind. I'm very sorry, old man. There isn't any chance of its coming right?" "None whatever," said Leycester, "and that is why I am a great fool in clinging to it." He got up and began to pace the room, and the color mounted to his haggard face. "I cannot--I cannot shake it off. Charlie, I despise myself; and yet, no, no, to love her once was to love her for always--to the end." "There's another man, of course," said Lord Charles. "Didn't it occur to you to--well, to break his neck, or put a bullet through him, or get him appointed governor of the Cannibal Islands, Ley? That used to be your style." Leycester smiled grimly. "This man cannot be dealt with in any one of those excellent ways, Charlie," he said. "If it's the man I suppose, that fellow Jasper Addled egg--no, Adelstone, I should have tried the first at any rate," said Lord Charles, emphatically. Leycester shook his head. "It's a bad business," he said, curtly, "and there is no way of making it a good one. I will go to bed. What shall we do to-morrow?" and he sighed. Lord Charles laid his hand on his arm and kept him for a moment. "You want rousing, Ley," he said. "Rousing, that's it! Let's have the horses to-morrow and take a big spin; anywhere, nowhere, it doesn't matter. We'll go while they can." Ley nodded. "Anything you like," he said, and went out. Lord Charles called to Oliver, who was standing outside smoking a cigar--he was quite as particular about the brand as his master: "Where did you say the earl and countess were, Oliver?" he asked. "At Darlingford Court, my lord." "How far is it from here? Can we do it to-morrow with the nags?" Oliver thought a moment. "If they are taken steadily, my lord; not as his lordship has been riding lately; as if the horse were cast iron and his own neck too." Lord Charles nodded. "All right," he said, "we'll do it. Lord Leycester wants a change again, Oliver." Oliver nodded. "We'll run over there. Needn't say anything to his lordship--you understand." Oliver quite understood, and went off to the small stable to see about the horses, and Lord Charles went to bed chuckling over his little plot.