Mrs. Jocelyn, a young and pretty woman, almost as pretty as Sibylla, answered to the summons.
"Tell Mr. Verner what Poynton said about the ponies."
"Oh, you must not miss the opportunity," cried Mrs. Jocelyn to Lionel. "They are perfectly beautiful, the man said. Very dear, of course; but you know nobody looks at money when buying horses for a lady. Mrs. Verner must have them. You might secure them to-day."
"I have no room in my stables for more horses," said Lionel, smiling at Mrs. Jocelyn's eagerness.
"Yes, you have, Lionel," interposed his wife. "Or, if not, room must be made. I have ordered the ponies to be brought."
"I shall send them back," said Lionel, laughing.
"Don't you wish your wife to take to driving, Mr. Verner? Don't you like to see a lady drive? Some do not."
"I think there is no necessity for a lady to drive, while she has a husband at her side to drive for her," was the reply of Lionel.
"Well—if I had such a husband as you to drive for me, I don't know but I might subscribe to that doctrine," candidly avowed Mrs. Jocelyn. "I would not miss these ponies, were I Mrs. Verner. You can drive them, you know. They are calling me. It is my turn, I suppose."
She ran back to the shooting, Sibylla was following her, but Lionel caught her hand and drew her into a covered walk. Placing her hand within his arm, he began to pace it.