were
portending an arch, but Adrian suggested that he wanted possibly to drink
his birthday, and claret was conceded.

The boys were in the vortex of a partridge-pie when Adrian strolled in to
them. They had now changed characters. Richard was uproarious. He drank a
health with every glass; his cheeks were flushed and his eyes brilliant.
Ripton looked very much like a rogue on the tremble of detection, but his
honest hunger and the partridge-pie shielded him awhile from Adrian's
scrutinizing glance. Adrian saw there was matter for study, if it were
only on Master Ripton's betraying nose, and sat down to hear and mark.

"Good sport, gentlemen, I trust to hear?" he began his quiet banter, and
provoked a loud peal of laughter from Richard.

"Ha, ha! I say, Rip: 'Havin' good sport, gentlemen, are ye?' You remember
the farmer! Your health, parson! We haven't had our sport yet. We're
going to have some first-rate sport. Oh, well! we haven't much show of
birds. We shot for pleasure, and returned them to the proprietors. You're
fond of game, parson! Ripton is a dead shot in what Cousin Austin calls
the Kingdom of 'would-have-done' and 'might-have-been.' Up went the
birds, and cries Rip, 'I've forgotten to load!' Oh, ho!--Rip! some more
claret.--Do just leave that nose of yours alone.--Your health, Ripton
Thompson! The birds hadn't the decency to wait for him, and so, parson,
it's their fault, and not Rip's, you haven't a dozen brace at your feet.
What have you been doing at home, Cousin Rady?"

"Playing Hamlet, in the absence of the Prince of Denmark. The day without
you, my dear boy, must be dull, you know."

"'He speaks: can I trust what he says is sincere?
There's an edge to his smile that cuts much like a sneer.'

"Sandoe's poems! You know the couplet, Mr. Rady. Why shouldn't I quote
Sandoe? You know you like him, Rady. But, if you've missed me, I'm sorry.
Rip and I have had a beautiful day. We've made new acquaintances. We've
seen the world. I'm the monkey that has seen the world, and I'm going to
tell you all about it. First, there's a gentleman who takes a rifle for a
fowling-piece. Next, there's a farmer who warns everybody, gentleman and
beggar, off his premises. Next, there's a tinker and a ploughman, who
think that God is always fighting with the devil which shall command the
kingdoms of the earth. The tinker's for God, and the ploughman"--

"I'll drink your health, Ricky," said Adrian, interrupting.

"