Aware that it would be hardly possible to find fault with the monosyllable, he slowly stirred his tea. He took it sweet, with cream, for in spite of a fairly successful military career and a well-developed taste for sport, he was a mild man. He was also a ladies’ man, and preferred feminine society, even in his own home, to that of fellow-sportsmen and former brother officers. Lady Jane had, indeed, no other fault to find with him; but this one sometimes constituted a serious grievance. “You talk,” said Lady Jane presently, “as if the matter was urgent.” “I said ‘oh,’” answered her husband mildly. “Precisely,” retorted the lady; “but I know very well what you meant.” “If I meant anything, I meant that those two girls are all over the place and need some one to look after them.” “I really think I’m able to take care [Illustration: “They rode races bareback in the paddock.”] of them myself for a few days,” answered Lady Jane stiffly. “No doubt, no doubt. But, all the same, I caught them potting rooks in the park this morning with my best gun; and Barker tells me that yesterday, when the men were at dinner, they managed to get Schoolboy and Charley’s Aunt out of the stables on the sly and rode races bareback in the paddock, till he came back. I don’t know why they did not break their necks.” Lady Jane did not seem much moved by this intelligence, for the Follitts were a sporting family, and she had been used to their ways for a quarter of a century. “I will speak to them,” she said, as if that would insure their necks.