that she had some shopping to do in London, and should be absent two nights. Elizabeth would keep her uncle company; ride with him to the meet, and play backgammon with him after dinner. She added, truly enough, that her husband would be bored to death in London, and annoyed at missing one of the best meets of the year, and he laughingly agreed with her. She went with her maid, and the morning after her departure Mr. Shaw received the following telegram:—
"Colonel Wybrowe just returned. Can come to us for a week. Have asked him to accompany me home to-morrow. Send carriage to meet six-thirty train."
Elizabeth felt a slight thrill of pleasure at the announcement, and was surprised to feel it. What could it signify to her whether this Adonis came to Farley or not? Well, physical beauty had a great attraction for her. Some people said they did not care about it; she never pretended not to care. It would be a pleasure to see again a figure, the image of which often rose up before her eyes as the type of manly vigour and comeliness. Perhaps, if he stayed at Farley some days, she might succeed in making a sketch of his head. As to the man himself, she was not much concerned as to what he was; but, being fresh from Africa, he must have something to tell better worth listening to than the local gossip, and horse-and-dog talk, which was all she ever heard from the men who frequented Farley.
It was dusk when they arrived: Mrs. Shaw flushed, excited, voluble, laden with parcels (one of which was a present of a grey embroidered dress for Elizabeth); Colonel Wybrowe calm and high-bred as ever, curiously
