The mare, still unable to unseat Mrs.Fortescue or to break away from the wiry little Sergeant, yet managed to scatter all the official mail in the Sergeant's hand on the snow.

Kettle, who could not have remained away from "Miss Betty" under such circumstances to save his life, dropped the baby on the drawing-room floor and rushed out.

This the After-Clap resented, shrieking wildly.
[Illustration: The black mare suddenly threw her head down and her heels up.] The combination of the kicking mare, the fallen troopers, the prostrate chaplain, and the screaming baby at once determined Colonel Fortescue to remain in his office; what he had to say to Mrs.Fortescue would not sound well in public.

Unlike Kettle, Colonel Fortescue had no fear whatever for Mrs.Fortescue, and watched calmly from the window as Sergeant McGillicuddy brought Birdseye to her four feet.

Mrs.
Fortescue sprang to the ground and apologized gracefully to the chaplain, assuring him that Birdseye was the best disposed horse in the world, except when she was in a temper and her temper was merely bashfulness and stage fright.
"Whatever it is," answered Chaplain Brown, smiling while he rubbed a bruised shin, "it hurts.