L’OISEAU BLEU

Bunny surpassed himself that afternoon.  Wherever he went, success seemed to follow, and shouts of applause reached him from all quarters.

“That young fellow is a positive genius,” commented General Melrose, who had a keen eye for the game.  “He ought to be in the Service.  Why isn’t he, Mrs. Bolton?”

“He wasn’t considered strong enough,” Maud said.  “It was a great disappointment to him.  You see, he spent the whole of his childhood on his back with spine trouble.  And when that was put right he outgrew his strength.”

“Ah!  I remember now.  You used to wheel the poor little beggar about in a long chair.  Well, he’s rather different now from what he was in those days.  Not much the matter with him, is there?”

“Nothing now,” Maud said.

“What does he do with himself?” asked the General, surveying the distant figure at that moment galloping in a far corner of the field.

“He is agent on Lord Saltash’s estate at Burchester,” his daughter said, suddenly entering the conversation.  “He was telling me about it at luncheon.  He and Lord Saltash are friends.”

“Ah!  To be sure!” General Melrose’s look suddenly came to Maud and she felt herself colour a little.

“He is an old friend of the family,” she said.  “We live not far from the Castle.  My husband owns the Graydown Stables.”

“Oh, I know that,” the General said courteously.  “I know your husband, Mrs. Bolton, and I am proud to know him.  What I did not know until to-day was that he was your husband.  I never heard of your marriage.”

“We have been married for eight years,” she said with a smile.

“It must be at least ten since I saw you last,” he said.  “This girl of mine—­Sheila—­must have been at school in those days.  You never met her?”

Maud turned to the girl.  “I don’t think we have ever met before,” she said.  “Is this your first visit to Fairharbour?”

“My first visit, yes.”  Sheila leaned forward.  She was a pretty girl of two-and-twenty with a quantity of soft dark hair and grey eyes that held a friendly smile.  “We don’t go to the sea much in the summer as a rule.  We get so much of it in the winter.  Dad always winters in the South.  It only seems a few weeks since we came back from Valrosa.”

Maud was conscious of an abrupt jerk from Toby on her other side, and she laid a hand on her arm with the kindly intention of drawing her into the conversation.  But the next instant feeling tension under her hand, she turned to look at her, and was surprised to see that Toby was staring out across the field with wide, strained eyes.  She looked so white that Maud had a moment of sharp anxiety.

“Is anything the matter, dear?” she whispered.

An odd little tremor went through Toby.  She spoke with an effort.  “I thought he was off his pony that time, didn’t you?”

She kept her eyes upon Bunny who was coming back triumphant.