170 THE SILVER FOX 



wood to open ground, till the short wet 

 grass was under her feet and the mist blew 

 in her face. She turned her head away, 

 and the sobs broke from her. Any one 

 who has loved horse or dog will know how 

 and where they touch the heart and com- 

 mand the tear. Let us trust that in some 

 degree it is known to them also, that the 

 confiding spirit may understand that its 

 god can grieve for it. 



Maria Quin looked at Lady Susan with 

 eyes that were as dry as glass. The Irish 

 peasant regards the sorrow for a mere animal 

 as a childishness that is almost sinful, a 

 tempting of ill fate in its parody of the 

 grief rightly due only to what is described 

 as " a Christhian"; and Maria's heart glowed 

 with the unwept wrongs of her brother. 



'' What happened him ? " she asked, and 

 the knot of pain and outrage was tight in 

 her voice. 



"I tried to pull him back when I saw 

 what was coming," said Lady Susan, with 

 difficulty. ''I couldn't stop him; he had 



