"  Where  did  you  spring  from,  Oswald  ?  "

"  From  Mrs.  MaxwelFs  room."

"  Nonsense."

"  I  assure  you  I  speak  truth ;  ask  Mrs.  Maxwell."

"You  were  not  in  the  house  an  hour  ago."

"  Because  I  was  on  the  road  to  it ;  a  body  cannot  be  in
two  places  at  once."

"  Seriously,  Oswald,  where  did  you  come  from  1 "

'*  Seriously,  I  arrived  this  afternoon  from  town  soon  after
you  left  home.  They  told  me  where  you  had  gone,  and  I
got  some  dinner,  and  mounted  old  Jack,  and  came  after  you.
I  should  have  been  here  an  hour  ago  only  Jack  fell  lame  on
the  other  side  of  Dunsey  Brook.  We  came  by  the  ford,
and  I  fency  something  got  into  his  foot.  I  had  to  lead  him
np  this  confounded  hill.  I  must  leave  him  here  till  to-
morrow, and  I  shall  have  the  pleasure  of  driving  your  lady-
ship and  Miss  Kendall  home."

"  Do  you  know,  Oswald,  I  think  I  would  rather  drive
those  ponies  myself.  They  are  mettlesome  creatures,  and
they  are  used  to  my  hand."

"  To  think  I,  who  can  tool  along  Black  Bess  and  Phos-
phorus, should  not  be  able  to  hold  in  a  pair  of  ponies  not
much  bigger  than  cats."

"  Of  course  you  are  able,  but  you  are  a  little  rash,  and
your  driving  sometimes  frightens  me ;  and  these  creatures
have  odd  whimsies,  and  they  are  larger  and  aliOTi^^x  "Ocvikql
you  imagine, "

L


146  GREY   AND   GOLD.
