MISS BADSWORTH, M.F.H. e-j 



the coverts during the summer, and above all must keep the 

 accounts, so that if there is any hitch you may be able to 

 satisfy our friend Mr Morgan." 



" Charles, I'm nearly fifty." 



Her brother's face softened. " Poor Lavinia," he said, 

 " it's deuced hard on you, but it seems Hugo took you 

 at your own estimate of yourself. If you think yourself 

 physically incapable, then, well — there is only Lavvy to fall 

 back upon." 



'' But how would she like " 



" I don't know ; she has broken many a youngster, and 

 you don't suppose we should spoil them at first with a 

 woman's saddle." He thought for a moment, then he said 

 in a gentle tone, ** Lavvy would help any mortal, man, 

 woman or child, who was in a fix ". 



Jack Morgan felt a strange sensation within him, and with 

 difficulty he forbore from saying " Hear, hear ! " 



So gradually the conversation softened down, and the 

 elements of a more or less practical scheme developed them- 

 selves, Charles avoided personalities, though he impressed 

 upon his sister the necessity of giving her whole time to 

 the matter in hand. '* Anyway I'll write a line to Lavvy," 

 he said, '' and we'll hear what she says." 



'* If we only knew what the law would be," Jack said, 

 when he and Charles Badsworth discussed the affair in the 

 smoking-room later. 



"Just so ; but if some infernal lawyer were to give opinion 

 against us, Morgan, it would take the curl out of our tails. 

 Any fool who can sit on a horse can ride over a flagged 

 course ; it's the getting over a blind and strange country 

 that wants the skill and energy." 



Before he slept Charles Badsworth wrote a characteristic 

 letter to his daughter. He briefly but clearly described the 

 state of affairs generally and the mad codicil in particular. 



" Your Aunt Lavinia is not the sort of woman you would 

 expect to meet after reading reports of her doings, and your 

 Uncle Hugo ought to have known it, but in handing over 



