"What is it?" asked Mrs. Corcoran.
"No, don't tell!" cried Mrs. Harrington; "not if it's horrid. I won't have my picnic spoilt. Be a gem, now!"
"But, my dear madam"—Sir Henry's look was a rebuke to all trifling—"I dare not take it upon myself to leave you all in suspense about a matter which cannot in any event be lightly treated. When I say that a travelling menagerie at Sutley has lost one of its wild beasts early this morning, and that up to the time I started from Wetherwell no news of its recapture had come to hand——"
He paused for an effect, and several ladies said: "Good heavens!" Mrs. Corcoran added:—
"And you rode over the moor alone?"
A pleased smile was her reward.
"I could do no less—yes—some say a puma; others a bear." Sir Henry rapidly answered a string of questions.
"Perhaps it was a llama," suggested Miss Corcoran.
"Judith!"
"They're very dangerous, mother."