MISS BADSWORTH, M.F.H. 233 



me 1 I never would have thought it ; and them gates, well, 

 to be sure ! " 



Lavvy never had any difficulty in making herself pleasant? 

 she had been acquainted all her life with all sorts and con- 

 ditions of people. Before the house was reached Mr. Tucker 

 made one more halt. " I'll tell you what," he said, *' I'll 

 put 'untin' gates to those wire fences before November." 



Charles Badsworth riding a little distance behind said to 

 Jack Morgan : — 



*' Lavvy will twist that cantankerous old man round her 

 finger, see if she doesn't, just as she would twist me." 



Jack felt a peculiar satisfaction in the way in which Charles 

 Badsworth addressed him ; he had loyally kept his promise 

 to Lavvy but he didn't at all like doing it. 



" She went splendidly," he remarked. '* I hardly think 

 either Ned or I should have negotiated those last three gates 

 on our blown horses if she hadn't gone first. It impressed 

 us as much as it seems to have impressed old S. T." 



" Lavvy's a nice light-weight," Mr. Badsworth replied, 

 looking down at his own horse. 



At the iron railings which separated the parterre from 

 what Mr. Tucker called the park, Lavvy stopped. 



" Won't you come in, miss ? " the old gentleman asked. 



" I think I will stay with my hounds in case of more 

 trouble," Lavvy replied with a smile which made Mr. Tucker 

 grunt at his previous want of perception as he bustled off to 

 the house to give the necessary orders. 



Lavvy mounted her horse ; in case of the arrival of Mrs. 

 Tucker and her daughters she felt there would be an advan- 

 tage in being on horseback. By good luck the ladies had 

 gone out to luncheon, so Mr. Tucker dispensed his hospi- 

 tality unaided save by domestics, whose sphere of usefulness 

 was much interfered with by the contradictory orders of 

 their master. 



" Go and take the sherry across to her, you young fool," 

 he said in a loud aside to his son, who, with a cigarette in 

 his mouth,- lounged on the front steps. ''You might do 



