26 MISS BADSWORTH, M.F.H. 



<' Very likely," she replied. " Down here we have fre- 

 quently to break conventional rules, but if you come to think 

 of it, though the huntsman is absent, I am the first whip. 

 Where do you usually hunt, Mr. Morgan ?" 



" In Dumpshire, with the Cranston," Jack replied. They 

 were skirting the hill and coming out on the leveller ground 

 beyond. The fog had been dispersed, and the slanting sun 

 lit up the whole landscape. To Jack it was a comparatively 

 trackless waste, but his companion treated it as a familiar 

 spot. Jack watched the effect of his words. 



Miss Badsworth checked her horse momentarily as she 

 exclaimed : " The Cranston ! Uncle Hugo's pack ? Tell 

 me what he is like, Mr. Morgan ; I have never seen him." 



" I think I have hunted with the Cranston since I was 

 ten," Jack replied. " So Mr. Badsworth is your uncle, is 

 he ? " (as if he wasn't well aware of the fact). He is stouter 

 than your father but very like him, rather greyer, perhaps, 

 but with the same voice and manner ; he's a great favourite 

 in the country, but so he ought to be, for he does everything 

 at his own expense except a miserably supported poultry 

 fund. You see, people are fond of having things done for 

 them. I suppose I mustn't ask how it is you don't know 

 him ? " 



'' Oh, yes, you may; but I cannot answer the question, for 

 I don't know the reason. I really don't think there is any 

 reason. I have never heard what the hitch was years ago, 

 but if Uncle Hugo is like father he would never take the 

 initiative in bringing about a reconciliation ; my private 

 opinion is if they once met they would be inseparable. 

 That is the Badsworth character. Aunt Lavinia is just the 

 same ; she is the authority on women's rights and women's 

 freedom. Father makes fun of it when he reads accounts in 

 the paper ; does Uncle Hugo do the same ? " 



Jack Morgan was obliged to look away from the speaker 

 as he replied : he didn't like to say he had heard Hugo 

 Badsworth condemn his sister's views as ** the damndest 

 rubbish of modern days," but that was after dinner. " They 



