He laughed and sprang abruptly to his feet. "_Quien sabe_? I might have turned rustic too--pious also, my _Juliette_! Think of it! Life isn't fair to me. Why am I condemned always to ride the desert alone?" "Mainly because you ride too hard," said Juliet. "None but you can keep up the pace. Ah!" She turned her head quickly, and the swift colour flooded her face. "Ah!" mocked Saltash softly, watching her. "Is it Romeo's step that I hear?" Columbus wagged his tail in welcome as Dick Green came round the corner of the Ricketts' cottage and walked down under the apple-trees to join them. He greeted Saltash with the quiet self-assurance of a man who treads his own ground. There was no hint of hostility in his bearing. "I've been expecting you," he said coolly. "Have you?" said Saltash, a gleam of malicious humour in his eyes. "I thought there was something of the conquering hero about you. I have come--naturally--to congratulate you on your conquest." "Thank you," said Dick, and seated himself on the bench beside Juliet and Columbus. "That is very magnanimous of you." "It is," agreed Saltash. "But if I had known what was in the wind I might have carried it still further and offered you Burchester Castle for the honeymoon." "How kind of you!" said Juliet. "But we prefer cottages to castles, don't we, Dick? We might have had the Court. The squire very kindly suggested it. But we like this best--till our own house is in order." "Still rusticating!" commented Saltash. "I should have thought your passion for that would have been satisfied by this time. I seem to have got out of touch with you all during my stay in Scotland. I never meant to go there this year, but I got lured away by Muff and his crowd. Mighty poor sport on the whole. I've often wished myself back. But I pictured you far away on the _Night Moth_ with Mr. and Mrs. Fielding, and myself bored to extinction in my empty castle. And so I hung on. I certainly never expected you to get married in my absence, _ma Juliette_. That was the unkindest cut of all. Why didn't you write and tell me?" "I didn't even know where you were," said Juliet. "You disappeared without warning. We expected you back at any time." "Bad excuses every one of 'em!" said Saltash. "You know you wanted to get it over before I came back. Very rash of you both, but it's your funeral, not mine. Is this all the honeymoon you're going to have?" Juliet laughed a little. "Well, my dear Rex, it doesn't much matter where you are so long as you are happy. We spend a good deal of our time on the sea and in it. We also go motoring in the squire's little car. And we superintend the decorating of our house. At the same time Dick is within reach of the miners who are being rather tiresome, so every one--except the miners--is satisfied." "Oh, those infernal miners!" said Saltash, and looked at Dick. "How long do you think you are going to keep them in hand?"