Trev had guessed something of the sort. He took off his hat as he ducked under a dangling rope and walked into the shadows of the barn.

He saw her bonnet over a stall partition, the brim bobbing energetically. He paused, looking round the wooden barrier. Callie stood bracing herself against the enthusiastic assault of a large calf on the bottle she held. Under a copious canvas apron, she was dressed in a pink silk gown with a pair of muck boots poking out from beneath the ruff led hem.

"Have you deserted the drawing room, my lady?" he asked.

"Oh!" She started but only glanced aside without showing her face from under the wide brim of the bonnet.

"You had a caller," he said. "I even had my boots polished."

"I'm sorry," she said in a voice he could barely discern. "I didn't expect—I shouldn't have gone away from the party, but—"

Her muff led words trailed off. She kept her face hidden. As he watched, she turned up the bottle to let the calf suck down the last of the milk. Trev took a step nearer. He tilted his head, bending a little, and saw that her chin was wet with tears.

"Callie," he said in dismay. "What is it?"

She set the milk bottle in the straw. The calf nosed it and licked at the nipple. There was a long silence, and then she wiped her cheek.

"My cousin has lost Hubert," she said in a small voice.

"Hubert?" For a moment he was bewildered, and then recollection struck him. "Hubert the bull? The one you're taking to the Hereford show?"

"Yes. Rupert's finest grandson."

"What do you mean, lost him? He's got loose?"

She shook her head. "No. Cousin Jasper lost him in a game of whist at the assembly last night. Colonel Davenport is coming tomorrow to lead him away."

"A game of—but Hubert doesn't belong to him! He's yours, is he not?"

"My father didn't specify it," she said. She gave a wan shrug. "I don't suppose it was something he thought of, to change his will over a bull calf."

"And your cousin put him up for stakes?" Trev said incredulously. "A bullock?"

She lifted her face. He saw for the first time that her eyes were red and swollen. "Colonel Davenport has tried to buy him for a year now. He's offered a great deal of money, but we never accepted. Cousin Jasper feels very badly about it. I think he was not himself."

"Was he drunk, the stupid devil?"

"I don't know. I shouldn't think so. He said was trying to be affable with the other gentlemen. Lady Shelford won't allow him to gamble for coin."

Trev scowled. "He sounds a very fool."

"He is not quite—" She pulled her apron from the calf's searching mouth. "He finds it difficult to be comfortable with people. I can understand it."