Tommy shielded his pockets carefully that morning, for in them was concealed a secret that made him feel alternately important and then very guilty; for he had a bag full of shot in each pocket, the blacksmith’s boy not only having shown him how to use it, but supplied him with it as well, in return for two enormous pumpkins that he had coveted for lantern making.
When Anne went indoors, Mr. Hugh, who was riding about collecting forces and telling Martin, who had volunteered, exactly where to trail the drag, passed down the road on his way to meet the Varleys and show them the cut to Squire Burley’s, for the hounds were gathered there, as the start was to be from his orchard.
Miss Varley certainly looked very well on a horse, and was perfectly aware of it. She wore a black skirt, a tight-fitting red coat and a small continental hat looped up with a cockade—a costume in which artists and illustrators had painted or sketched her; and she kept her horse continually curvetting and champing at the bit, as she made somewhat cutting remarks about what she termed “mere baby business,” and derided the local habit of shooting foxes, in contrast to the cross-country riding to which she was accustomed.
As Mr. Hugh was explaining that the animals were so plentiful in this country of rocky caves that the farmers must keep them down in the easiest way, by locating the runs with the hounds and following afoot,—he glanced a bit ahead and saw, to his astonishment, Miss Letty mounted upon Brown Kate, waiting quietly opposite Squire Burley’s, Jack Waddles standing sentinel beside her; and as he came near, she greeted him with an amused sort of smile, as if such things as following a drag were of daily occurrence.
Mr. Hugh felt angry, and rather showed it; but it was really a form that worry takes with some quite nice men. He was at heart afraid that she did not know how to ride, and might come to grief. He cared a great deal, but merely said, as if she had been fifteen: “What! are you going? Was your aunt willing? I thought you and Anne would keep each other company until luncheon.”
“Certainly, I am going,” she answered, flushing painfully at having what both she and Miss Jule had meant for a surprise taken in such a way; and added quickly, and rather at random: “Have you had that old barbed wire fence taken down in the middle lot? You asked me to remind you of it, but I quite forgot until this morning; and it may cripple some of the dogs.”
“It’s rather late now,” said Mr. Hugh, annoyed to realize that he too had forgotten. “But no one with common sense need go anywhere near it, and if they do, they must take their chances.”
“Miss Letty was waiting with a smile.”