"Why, hang me if it isn't true!" he cried hilariously. "They told me you had been taken prisoner, Gaunt, and I refused to believe it. Bet Charlie Myers two to one against, down at the Market Hall yesterday. But"--raising his hat, and riding up close to Virginia--"when one sees the lady, the whole thing becomes clear. Poor old chap! you never had a chance. Present me, won't you?" "This is Mr. Ferris, whose land is not far from here," said Gaunt. "My wife, Ferris." "But this is simply grand," declared Ferris. "My wife will be ready to eat you, Mrs. Gaunt. Never, since your husband came to these parts, has she been allowed inside his doors. I say, Gaunt, you'll have to keep your door on the chain nowadays to bar out the women, you will, by Jove! They'll simply roll up. When may Joey come and pay her respects? Give her the start, won't you?" To Virginia's surprise, Gaunt's manners were equal to an occasion which she could see was very disagreeable to him. "Mrs. Ferris must give us time," he said simply. "My wife has to go over the house and make some changes before she will feel ready to receive guests. At present we are on our honeymoon, and must not be disturbed. Sure you'll understand." "Right-O!" replied Mr. Ferris. "But don't bar us out too long, or we may get restive and break in. Welcome to the county, Mrs. Gaunt! You're going to make things hum hereabouts, I can see." Gaunt, his lips set in a tight, thin line, turned the cart into the drive, waved a hand to his neighbour and drove off. "Damn!" he ejaculated under his breath, as the mare quickened her pace. "If I hadn't had to bring you back by the road, we shouldn't have met that jackass!" "I'm sorry," said Virginia gravely. CHAPTER XII THE BEGINNING OF DEFEAT "_Oh, heart of stone, are you flesh, and caught By that which you swore to withstand?_"--Tennyson. "My word, but she's a peach," muttered Mr. Percy Ferris to himself as he rode hastily home through the lanes to lunch. "And old Gaunt's got her! That smoke-dried old curmudgeon! Well, some people have the devil's own luck. Poor little woman. Sold to him, I suppose? Sold, body and soul. And he sits looking as though he would like to shut her up in a harem where no other man but himself could ever set eyes on her. Oh, why wasn't she about in my day? However, one can't have everything, I suppose." It was as well that he should admit this, for he was considered extremely lucky by most of his neighbours. Beginning life as a veterinary surgeon, he had happened to be about when the late Colonel Coxon departed this life, leaving Josephine, his only daughter, sole heiress of Perley Hatch, a nice little property.