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expect it will be. Well, they’re Grange people and where Lucian goes, mark my words, Henry will go too. That’s if I know anything about Madam.”
    “Who else, if you don’t?” added Mrs. Barton sycophantically. She was eager to be on good terms with Nanny, who was reckoned to be a power in the household-second only to Mrs. Marline herself.
    I should be very sorry when Lucian went away. He and Camilla came to
    tea at Commonwood now and then. They were very special occasions and I never enjoyed them as much as going to the Grange. Mrs. Marline was not actually present at tea but she hovered. She was so anxious that everything should be in order and that tea at Common wood should be in every degree as good as that taken at the Grange.
    1 believe she would really have liked to exclude me, but in view of the fact that Lucian had insisted that I join them at the Grange, she could hardly keep me out of these return occasions.
    She was intruding more and more on my notice. She had a shrill and penetrating voice and a very domineering manner; and she was usually complaining about something which had or had not been done. She was such a contrast to the mild-mannered doctor. I wondered if it was because of her that he had become as he was-resigned. I imagined she would have that effect on someone like the doctor who seemed to be a man who would avoid trouble at all cost.
    It has always amazed me how our lives can go along in a sort of groove for a long time and then some incident changes the entire pattern and what happens after is the result of that one detail, without which nothing that follows would have taken place.
    This is what happened at Commonwood House.
    Mrs. Marline was eager to join the Hunt, an enthusiasm which she shared with the Cromptons.
    Henry, Estella, Adeline and I would often assemble to see the start of it. It would set out from the Grange and Mrs. Marline, looking very much the horsewoman, and as completely in command of her steed as she was of the doctor and her household, would be in the centre of it, exchanging pleasantries with the gentry who had come in from the surrounding neighbourhood.
    The men looked splendid in their pink coats. The hounds were barking and there was general excitement in the air.
     
    The doctor did not hunt. He would have been quite out of place among such people.
    However, we would watch them ride off after the poor little fox until they were all out of sight. Then we would return home.
    It was a cold day, I remember, and we ran all the way. Henry was sighing for the day when he would be able to join the Hunt. Estella was not sure whether she wanted to. She was not all that happy on her pony and even contemplating the frisky mounts of the riders made her nervous.
    The day went on as usual. How could we know what an important day it was going to prove to be to us all at Commonwood House?
    It was due to the stump of a tree which some time before had been uprooted. The recent rains had exposed it apparently and it lay in the path taken by the hunted fox.
    The first I heard of what had happened was when I was in the garden with Estella. The household was quiet. It was amazing what a difference the absence of Mrs. Marline made.
    We saw Fred Carton, the policeman, wheeling his bicycle up to the gate. He came walking up the path.
    “Mr. Carton,” cried Estella.
    “What’s happened?”
    “Is Doctor in?” he asked.
    “I want to see him at once.”
    “Yes. He’s here,” said Estella.
    Jenny the parlour maid came out. She was startled at the sight of Mr. Canon.
    “I want to see Doctor now,” said Mr. Carton, rather curtly for him. He was usually affable and inclined to joke.
    Estella and I looked at each other with mounting excitement
    Something was wrong and Mr. Carton had come to tell us what it was.
    We followed Mr. Carton into the house and Jenny went upstairs to call the doctor.
    He came at once and there was consternation in his voice as he said:
    “What is it? What is