156 HARK FORRARD! 



nearest his heart. If he had rehearsed it once 

 he had done so one thousand times, and now 

 that the moment had actually arrived he found 

 it almost impossible to come up to the starting- 

 post. Over and over again he tried to join his 

 horses, but each time he let Reginald start 

 some topic of conversation. At last it became 

 so patent to Reginald that there was something 

 on Alfred Acton's mind, that he said, ' Well, 

 what is it ? You have been hanging about one 

 tiny little bit of gorse for at least an hour, and 

 seem frightened to draw it. Now blaze away ; 

 you want to say something. I sha'n't eat you, 

 dear boy, and, as you know, there is but one 

 topic on which we have agreed to maintain a 

 discreet silence.' 



This was Acton's cue. ' Yes, I know that, 

 but what I want to talk about now is the very 

 subject that, as you say, we agreed to taboo. 

 It is of Miss Lancelot I want to speak, and, 

 what's more, I must and will, once for all. If 

 you tell me to shut up for ever after you have 

 heard what I have got to tell you, I promise 



