'Ah! did you hear me?' smiling a little at that, as though he were amused. 'I am afraid I speak my mind pretty freely, in spite of bystanders. Well, Miss Garston, so I hear you have come down as a sort of female Quixote among us. Heathfield is to be the scene of your mission.' I was so angry at the tone in which he said this that I made no reply. What right had a perfect stranger to meddle in my business? It was all Uncle Max's fault; if he had only held his tongue. 'Cunliffe was up at Gladwyn the other night,' he continued in the same off-hand way, 'and he told us all about it.' 'I am sorry to hear it,' very stiffly. 'Sorry! Why? Good deeds ought to be talked about, ought they not, _pro bono publico_, eh? Why not, Miss Garston?' 'Good intentions are not deeds.' 'True; you have me there. I suppose you think you must not reckon on your chickens before they are hatched; the _pro bono publico_ scheme is not properly hatched yet, except in theory. I am afraid I shall make you angry if I tell you I was rather amused at the whole thing.' 'I am glad to afford you amusement, Mr. Hamilton.' 'Ah, I see you are deeply offended; what a pity, and in five minutes too! That comes of my unfortunate habit of speaking my mind. Let me follow this out. I am afraid Cunliffe has been a traitor; that fellow is not reliable: no parsons are. Let me hear what you have against me, Miss Garston. I have spoken against your pet theory, and you are aggrieved in consequence,' He spoke in a half-jesting manner, but his ironical voice challenged me. I felt I detested him, and he should know why. 'I expected to be misunderstood,' I returned coldly, 'but hardly to be accused of hysterical goodness. To be sure, a girl will do anything nowadays to get herself talked about!' 'Oh,' in a low voice, 'that rascal! But I will be even with him. How many more of my speeches did Cunliffe repeat?' 'Oh, I had heard enough,' I replied hastily. 'Does it not strike you as a little hard, Mr. Hamilton, that one should be judged beforehand in this harsh manner?--that because some girls are full of vagaries, the whole sex must be condemned?' 'Oh, if you put it in that cut-and-dried way, I must plead guilty: in fact, I should owe you some sort of apology, only'--with a stress on the word--'my speech was not intended for the house-top. I am rather a sceptic about female missions, Miss Garston, and do not always measure my words when I am discussing abstract theories with a friend. In my opinion Cunliffe is the one you ought to blame, though if the speech rankles I will take my share.' 'I certainly wish you had not said it, Mr. Hamilton.'