"Mrs. Stanley isn't going," said Blair. "I'm going alone."
"Then you could ride, sir," said Mrs. Day: "I could borrow Farmer James' colt, if you cared——"
"The very thing," said Blair, at once.
Mrs. Day inclined her head respectfully.
"I'll go and send for it, sir," she said, with the promptness which had struck Margaret as rather uncommon in a woman of Mrs. Day's class.
In about twenty minutes she came back to them.
"The colt is here, sir," she said, simply.
"Mrs. Day, you would make an excellent aid-de-camp," said Blair, with a laugh, as he jumped up. "Good-bye, Madge; I sha'n't be long. I can't bring all the things, but I'll bring some of them, and they shall manage to send the rest."
Margaret put her arm round his neck. Mrs. Day had retired.
"Don't go, Blair," she said, with sudden and unexpected earnestness. "I don't care about the painting; I would rather——"