"
"Never mind. I'll do that, I know all about it. I often used to hold
my brother's second gun when we drove partridges, because he said I
was so much quicker than the men. Look," and she took the gun and
rested one knee on the turf; "first position, second position, third
position. We used to have regular drills at it," and she sighed.
The Colonel laughed heartily, for it was a curious thing to see this
stately woman handling a gun with all the skill and quickness of a
practised shot. Besides, as the loader idea involved a whole afternoon
of Ida's society he certainly was not inclined to negative it. But
Edward Cossey did not smile; on the contrary he positively scowled
with jealousy, and was about to make some remark when Ida held up her
finger.
"Hush," she said, "here comes my father" (the Squire had been counting
the game); "he hates bets, so you mustn't say anything about our
match."
Luncheon went off pretty well, though Edward Cossey did not contribute
much to the general conversation. When it was done the Squire
announced that he was going to walk to the other end of the estate,
whereon Ida said that she should stop and see something of the
shooting, and the fun began.
CHAPTER XXII
THE END OF THE MATCH
They began the afternoon with several small drives, but on the whole
the birds did very badly.
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