He showed no inclination to fix the limits of his walk, and made no protest as she drove under the stone archway at the entrance of Fairview.  Victoria was amused and interested, and she decided that she liked Mr. Rangely.

“Will you come up for tea?” she asked.  “I’ll send you home.”

He accepted with alacrity.  They had reached the first turn when their attention was caught by the sight of a buggy ahead of them, and facing towards them.  The horse, with the reins hanging loosely over the shafts, had strayed to the side of the driveway and was contentedly eating the shrubbery that lined it.  Inside the vehicle, hunched up in the corner of the seat, was a man who presented an appearance of helplessness which struck them both with a sobering effect.

“Is the fellow drunk?” said Mr. Rangely.

Victoria’s answer was a little cry which startled him, and drew his look to her.  She had touched her horse with the whip, and her eyes had widened in real alarm.

“It’s Hilary Vane!” she exclaimed.  “I—­I wonder what can have happened!”

She handed the reins to Mr. Rangely, and sprang out and flew to Hilary’s side.

“Mr. Vane!” she cried.  “What’s the matter?  Are you ill?”

She had never seen him look so.  To her he had always been as one on whom pity would be wasted, as one who long ago had established his credit with the universe to his own satisfaction.  But now, suddenly, intense pity welled up within her, and even in that moment she wondered if it could be because he was Austen’s father.  His hands were at his sides, his head was fallen forward a little, and his face was white.  But his eyes frightened her most; instead of the old, semi-defiant expression which she remembered from childhood, they had in them a dumb suffering that went to her heart.  He looked at her, tried to straighten up, and fell back again.

“N—­nothing’s the matter,” he said, “nothing.  A little spell.  I’ll be all right in a moment.”

Victoria did not lose an instant, but climbed into the buggy at his side and gathered up the reins, and drew the fallen lap-robe over his knees.

“I’m going to take you back to Fairview,” she said.  “And we’ll telephone for a doctor.”

But she had underrated the amount of will left in him.  He did not move, though indeed if he had seized the reins from her hands, he could have given her no greater effect of surprise.  Life came back into the eyes at the summons, and dominance into the voice, although he breathed heavily.

“No, you’re not,” he said; “no, you’re not.  I’m going to Ripton—­do you understand?  I’ll be all right in a minute, and I’ll take the lines.”

Victoria, when she got over her astonishment at this, reflected quickly.  She glanced at him, and the light of his expression was already fading.  There was some reason why he did not wish to go back to Fairview, and common sense told her that agitation was not good for him; besides, they would have to telephone to Ripton for a physician, and it was quicker to drive there.  Quicker to drive in her own runabout, did she dare to try to move him into it.  She made up her mind.