"I only heard part--you know I only heard part. Tell me what he said! Tell me at once!" Mr Frazer was passing the fingers of his left hand through his hair. He seemed to be in a quandary, which caused him to be oblivious of the young lady's peremptory tone. "I don't fancy it's anything serious; but--I don't think I ought to make her go much farther, with that great thing at her back. Poor old girl!" He patted the mare on the shoulder, as if in sympathy. She looked round at him, as if she wondered what he meant. An inquiry came from the window: "Is there anything the matter with the horse?" "I'm not sure that there is--I'm not sure, that's the point. I don't take any risks, with an old friend.--she and I have been friends too long. That's why I asked you if you'd mind walking a little way." "Of course I wouldn't--you know I wouldn't." "Then in that case I think I'll take her into the field, and leave her there." He was leading the mare through a gate in a hedge, which opened into a field on the right. "Whose field is it?" asked the face at the window. "No doubt it belongs to someone who wouldn't wish to cause a horse needless suffering." "But is it suffering? It seems to me to walk all right, and to be all right." "Now it does--now! She's not one to make a fuss about a trifle. Besides, it may be spasmodic." "What may be spasmodic?" "I am not a veterinary surgeon, so I can hardly pose as an authority on the ailments of horses; I can only hope for the best." He was fastening a nosebag round the creature's neck. "I don't want her to eat a stranger's grass, however soft a heart he may have for a suffering beast. If that door's still bolted, would you mind unbolting it? I'm coming round to the back." When he did get round the door was open, and the girl was standing on the ledge, in her new attire. He exclaimed at sight of her: "Why, that frock might have been built for you; you look as if you had been melted into it." Her pallor had gone; she was rosy red. "It does fit rather well." "And that hat's a stunner; no one who saw you last night would know you now. If you wouldn't mind coming down, I'll come up; I want to do a little changing." When she had descended he climbed into the van; he drew the door to in his turn; she heard him bolt it. She moved to the horse at the other end. The sagacious quadruped seemed as if she did not quite know what to make of the situation. The presence of the nosebag seemed to puzzle her. She had recently eaten her fill of grass; there was grass again all round her; nice, luscious grass--then why the nosebag? She really did not seem to feel as if she needed it, amid all that grass. She regarded the girl as if, while wondering who she was, she desired to convey to her her feelings on the subject.