i62 MISS BADSWORTH, M.F.H. 



<' She's off! No, she isn't ! Well saved ! Ah, there she 

 goes ! " Jack Morgan exclaimed to himself. " Hard lines 

 having that second ditch so soon." Then he intercepted the 

 Banker, caught his rein, shouted to Ned Barlow, who was 

 pulling up, to go on, and led the pony back to the cham- 

 pion of women's rights sitting breathless on the turf. 



" Good morning, Mrs. Dickinson," he exclaimed cheerily. 

 " No harm done, I hope ? " Then, seeing the lady's be- 

 wildered face, ** Never mind ; we all do it sometimes and 

 think nothing of it ". 



" Oh, it's awful ! " Mrs. Dickinson stated her opinion with 

 conviction. 



" It certainly is," Jack replied sympathetically. " There 

 is more in it than one would think ; but don't give in, let 

 me put you up again ; you'll soon be all right, it's only a 

 little awkward at first." 



No one would have supposed that the young man who 

 put Mrs. Dickinson into the saddle and gave her some useful 

 hints was wishing her at home in her bed or inside the safer 

 and more familiar London 'bus, and himself at the farther 

 end of the common. 



Casselton, the residence of Lady Flora Parkfield, was the 

 only domain in the Cranston country which possessed a herd 

 of deer. Concerning this, Joe Summers had dispensed much 

 counsel and advice. " You may find yourself there more 

 often than you think for, ma'am " (he had adopted this title), 

 " and you must have your hounds steady or you will be 

 getting into trouble ; they've a way, those deer, of bouncing 

 up just when you don't want 'em if hounds are running 

 across the park, and its very trying to young hounds when 

 their blood is up." With much detail the old man had set 

 forth the proper duties of both huntsman and whips, and 

 Lavvy had forborne to state that in the capacity of the latter 

 she had often had to bustle about and stop the puppies 

 amongst the moorland sheep in Cornwall. 



So it was that, having ascertained that Mrs. Dickinson had 

 come to no harm, Lavvy entered Casselton Park and rode 



