MISS BADSWORTH, M.F.H. 259 



horsemen and horsewomen who had drawn to the side of the 

 road. " I am sorry to do it, but under the circumstances I 

 have no choice but to send the hounds home." 



She trotted on to join her niece and left the members of 

 the field to decide what had happened. 



Amongst many others who rode homewards in varying 



frames of mind were two subalterns of His Majesty's 



Dragoons from the depot at Mulchester — the one the Hon. 

 George Murdock, the other Mr. Lancelot Browne. 



The turn of events culminating in the sending home of 

 the hounds before one o'clock on the opening day had 

 tended to take the glamour out of the plot to which they had 

 been accessories before the fact. They had ridden some 

 distance in silence when Murdock remarked : — 



"We had a glorious spin, anyway." 



The " anyway " pointed to some blot on the programme. 



Browne assented with a certain lack of enthusiasm and 

 there was silence again, which five minutes later Browne 

 broke. 



" She's a splendid horsewoman ; the way she went on 

 that pony — he is little more — was a sight for sore eyes. 

 How she ever caught us with the start we had I can't 

 imagine." 



"You are right, my boy, I was just thinking the same. 

 From what Majendie said I had no idea she was that sort of 

 girl ; and couldn't she just flare up when she found out the 

 trick." 



" I tell you what it is, Murdock, I feel a beastly brute." 



" Same here. I suppose it is because we were found out — 

 at least Majendie will be to a certainty." 



"There will be a deuce of a row; that girl, quiet and 

 simple as she looks, isn't going to sit down and say nothing, 

 and from what I hear Miss Badsworth has got a pretty firm 

 hand. I wish we had stood down in this round." 



" But we didn't." 



" No ; but we shan't come in to the show up," Murdock 

 remarked doubtfully. 



17 * 



