There was an uncomfortable silence while Mark tried to find an answer.
Then he said, as if he had just thought of it,
“I think they get a percentage on any horse they ride that sells well because they look so smart on it.”
He did not wait for his sister to reply, but went on,
“That is what I was hoping would happen, not with the horse you are riding, but the stallion, which by the way will have arrived by now at Kilne Hall.”
“So he is staying with the Marquis for the night,” Filipa smiled. “That is very smart!”
“I hope Hercules, which is his name, thinks so,” Mark replied.
The dinner was better than Filipa had dared to hope.
When it was over and they returned to the drawing room, Mark suggested,
“I think you ought to go to bed, as we shall have to leave here punctually at eight o’
