"Still, considering my age, Tom--

"A man is as old as he looks, sir, and you look no older than thirty-one."

The Major shook his head.

"I could ha' wished myself a little more sombre-clad----"

"Sambre sir--O Gad support me, sambre? Permit me to say, sir, with the greatest deference in the world--tush t'you, sir! Why must ye pine to be sambre? You ain't a parson nor a Quaker, nor yet a funeral! With all due respect, sir--pish! You are as sober clad as any self-respecting gentleman could desire."

"D'ye think so, Tom?"

"Sure of it, sir, 'pon my honour!"

"Hum!" said the Major still a little dubious and reaching for his gold-laced hat, was in the act of setting it on his head when a cry from the Viscount arrested him.

"Gad love me, sir, what are you about with your hat?"

"I am about to put it on, sure, nephew."

"O Lard, sir, never do so, I beg!"

"In heaven's name why not?"

"Because 'tis never done sir. Fie, 'tis a curst barbarian act never committed by the 'ton'!"

"But damme, Tom, what are hats for?"

"To show off one's hand sir, to fan one's self gracefully, to be borne negligently 'neath the arm, to point a remark or lend force to an epigram, to woo and make love with, to offend and insult with, 'tis for a thousand and one things, sir, but never O never to put on one's head--'tis a practice unmodish, reprehensible and altogether d.a.m.nable!"

"Tom," said the Major, looking a little dazed, "now look'ee, Tom, I'm no town gallant nor ever shall be, to me a hat is a hat, and as such I shall use it----"

"But reflect sir, consider how it will discommode your peruke."

"Tom, well-nigh all my days I have worn a uniform and consequently any other garments feel strange on me--these cursedly so. But since I've bought 'em, I'll wear 'em my own way. And now, since 'tis a fine evening, I'll walk abroad and try to get a little used to 'em."

Saying which the Major clapped on his hat a little defiantly and strode out of the room.

In the wide hall he met Mrs. Agatha and conscious of her glance of surprised approval, felt himself flushing as he acknowledged her curtsey; thereafter on his way out he stepped aside almost stealthily to avoid one of the neat housemaids; even when out in the air he still felt himself a mark for eyes that peeped unseen and hastened his steps accordingly.

And now, as luck would have it, he came upon the Sergeant busied at one of the yew hedges with a pair of shears; checking a momentary impulse to dodge out of sight, the Major advanced and touched him with his gold-mounted cane. The Sergeant turned, stared, opened his mouth, shut it again and came to attention.

"Well, Sergeant?" he enquired. Sergeant Zebedee blinked and coughed.

"Sergeant, I--ah--er--O damme, Zeb, what d'ye think of 'em?"

"Sir, being by natur' a man o' few words all I can say is--Zounds!"

"D'ye--d'ye like 'em Zeb?"

"Sir," answered the Sergeant, sloping the shears across his arm and standing at ease, "I've a seen you in scarlet and jacks, I've a seen you in cuira.s.s and buff but--I ain't never a seen you look younger, no, nor better, and that's G.o.d's truth amen, your honour."

"I'm glad o' that, Zeb, very!" and the Major glanced full-skirted coat and silk stockings with a kindlier eye. "To speak truth, Zeb, I found 'em a little--er--overpowering at first, as 'twere."

"So they are, sir, as overpowering as ever was!"

"Eh?" said the Major, starting.

"Like the old regiment at Malplaquet, sir, they ain't to be took lightly, nor yet withstood, sir."

"Hum!" said the Major, his eyes travelling up to a patch of fleecy cloud. "And now as regards yourself, Sergeant. Since you refuse to accept more pay----"

"Not a groat, sir! Which ain't to be wondered at when you consider as you've rose me twice since you dropped in for this here fortun'--not a stiver, sir!"

"Just so, Zeb, just so! Therefore I propose to advance you an extra ten guineas a year as--er--a clothes-bounty, as 'twere."

"Clo'es, sir! And me wi' two soots as refuses to be wore out not to mention this here. Take these breeches, for example, they've done dooty n.o.ble and true for three years and no sign o' weakness front or rear----"

"Still, 'tis time they were retired from the active list, Zeb. So at the first opportunity you will proceed to fit yourself out anew--from head to foot. See to it, Sergeant Tring!"

"Very good, sir. Orders is orders."

"And the sooner the better, Zebedee." And the Major nodded and went his way.

"_Nom d'un chien!_" exclaimed the Sergeant looking after his master's tall, elegant figure. "All I says is--Lord--Lord bless his eyes and limbs!"

Reaching the highway the Major turned aside from the village and mounting a stile with due heed to his dainty apparel, followed a footpath that led over a sloping upland, crossed a murmurous rill and led on beside a wood from whose green depths came leafy stirrings and the evening song of thrush and blackbird. As he progressed, the leaping rill grew to a gurgling brook, widened to a splashing stream, hurrying over pebbly bed until it deepened to a slumberous pool spanned by a rustic bridge.

Evening was at hand and the westering sun cast long shadows making of these drowsy waters a pool of sombre mystery. Being upon the bridge the Major paused to look down into these stilly depths and, leaning well over the handrail, to survey himself in this watery mirror--the graceful fall of his lace steenkirk, the flowing curls of his glossy peruke, the c.o.c.k of his laced hat; all of which he observed with a profound and grave attention. So lost and absorbed was he that he leaned there quite unconscious of one that had halted just within the wood, crouching furtively amid the leaves. A tall, burly, gipsy-looking fellow this, who caressed a knotty bludgeon in hairy fingers and whose narrowed eyes roved over the indolent, lolling figure on the bridge from gemmed cravat to glittering shoe-buckles; once he took a stealthy forward step, the k.n.o.bby club a-swing in eager hand but, heeding the wide spread of these plum-coloured shoulders, the vigorous length of these resplendent limbs, scowled and crouched back among the leaves again. Presently, the Major, having settled his hat more to his liking, went on across the bridge and along a path that led over a wide sweep of green meadow and so to another stile flanked by high hedges. Here he paused again to watch a skylark hovering against the blue and to catch the faint, sweet ripple of song. And leaning there with gaze aloft, he fell to deep thought, turning over in his mind a problem that had vexed him much of late, a problem he had pondered by day and thought over by night, to wit:--

Could a feminine being blessed by a bounteous Nature in all the outward attributes most desirable in womanhood, a face beyond compare and G.o.ddess-shape, but one who had wantonly exposed that shape to public regard clad in the baser garb of masculinity--could such a one be worthy of a man's humble respect and reverent homage? Would his mother (G.o.d rest her sweet soul) have thought her virginal? Would his aunt Clarissa have endured her for a moment?

He sighed heavily and like an echo, came a sob and then another. He started, and guided by these sounds, discovered a very small damsel who wept bitterly, a huddled, woeful little figure in the gra.s.sy ditch beneath the hedge.

"Why, child," said he, "what's your sorrow?"

At this she glanced up in sudden fear but, like his voice, the Major's grey eyes were gentle and very kindly; perceiving which she rose, the better to bob him a curtsey, and sobbed forth her woe:

"O sir, 'tis all along of another grand gentleman like you as took away my letter."

Forgetting fine clothes and dignity together, the Major sat down in the ditch, drew the small, woebegone figure beside him and patted her tear-stained cheek.

"Tell me all about it, you very small maid," said he. The little girl hesitated, viewing him with the quick, intuitive eyes of childhood then, checking her sobs, nestled within his velvet-clad arm.

"'Twas a letter, sir, as was gave me by a dirty man as did meet me by the old mill, sir."

"You mean the ruined mill beyond the park wall, child?"

"Yes, please sir."