CHAPTER VII.
THE BEGINNING OF THE GREAT PURSUIT.
It was our last day in London. Roderick and I sat down to dinner in the hotel, the touch of depression upon us both. Mary had left us early in the morning to go to Salisbury, where her kinsfolk lived, and I confess that her readiness to quit us without protest somewhat hurt me. I imagine that I was thinking of it, for I blurted out at last, when we had been silent for at least a quarter of an hour—
"I suppose she's arrived by this."
"No, I didn't post her till three," Roderick replied in equal reflective mood.
"Didn't post who?" I asked indignantly.
"Why, old Belle, of course. I sent her down with the guard to get her out of the way."
"Oh," I replied, "I was thinking of Mary, not of your dog."
"You always are," he said; "but, between ourselves, I'm glad she went. I thought there'd be a fuss; and if it comes to a row, as it most probably will, girls are in the way. Don't you think so? But, of course, you don't."
I didn't, and made no bones of pretence about it. Mary was a child; there was no doubt
