CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE LADIES MAKE INQUISITION
On the steps Vane Trevor was encountered by Mr. Kincton Knox, in his drab gaiters and portly white waistcoat, and white hat, and smiling in guileless hospitality, with both hands extended. “Very good, Vane, my dear boy—very happy—now we’ve got you, we’ll keep you three weeks at least. You must not be running away as usual. We’ll not let you off this time, mind.”
Vane knew that the hospitable exuberances of the worthy gentleman were liable to be overruled by another power, and did not combat the hospitable seizure, as vigorously as if there had been no appeal. But he chatted a while with the old gentleman, and promised to walk down and see the plantations, and the new road with him. By a sort of silent compromise, this out-door department was abandoned to Mr. Kincton Knox, who seldom invaded the interior administration of the empire, and in justice, it must be alleged that the empress seldom interfered directly with the “woods and forests,” and contented herself with now and then lifting up her fine eyes, and mittened hands, as she surveyed his operations from the window in a resigned horror, and wondered how Mr. Kincton Knox could satisfy his conscience in wasting money the way he did!
She had learned, however, that his walks, trees, and roads, were points on which he might be raised to battle; and as she knew there was little harm in the pursuit, and really little, if anything done, more than was needed, and as some one must look after it, she conceded the point without any systematic resistance, and confined herself to the sort of silent protest I have mentioned.
While Vane Trevor lingered for a few minutes with the old gentleman, Master Howard Seymour Knox, who was as little accustomed to wait as Louis XIV., stumped into the drawing-room, to demand an order upon the gamekeeper’s wife for Vane Trevor’s revolver.
“Vane Trevor come?” exclaimed Clara.
“I want a note,” cried Howard.