d acceptance in the polished ears of Europe."

"What are the melodies like, then?" asked Miss Kennyfeck, throwing into
the question a most eager interest.

"You shall hear, if you like," said Roland, taking up a guitar, and
striking a few full chords with a practised hand. "This is one of the
war-songs;" and without further preface he began. Had he even been less
gifted than he was as to voice and musical taste, there was enough in
the bold and manly energy of his manner, in the fiery daring of his dark
eyes, and the expressive earnestness of his whole bearing, to attract
the admiration of his hearers. But, besides these advantages, he was not
unskilled in the science of music, and even made so poor an instrument a
full and masterly accompaniment, imitating, as few but Spaniards can do,
the distant sound of drums, the dropping fire of cannon, the wild abrupt
changes of battle, and the low plaintive sounds of suffering and defeat;
so that, as he concluded, the whole character of the performance had
ceased to be regarded as a mere musical display, but had the absolute
effect of a powerfully told story.

The Kennyfecks had often been called on in society to award their
praises to amateur performances, in whose applause, be it said, _en
passant_, a grateful sense of their being concluded always contributes
the enthusiasm; but real admiration and pleasure now made them silent,
and as their eyes first turned on the singer and then met, there was a
world of intelligence in that one quiet, fleeting glance that revealed
more of secret thought and feeling than we, as mere chroniclers of
events, dare inquire into.

Whether it was that this silence, prolonged for some seconds, suggested
the move, or that Mr. Jones began to feel how ignoble a part he had been
cast for in the whole evening's entertainment, but he rose to take
his leave at once, throwing into his manner a certain air of easy
self-sufficiency, with which in the "courts" he had often dismissed
a witness under cross-examination, and by a mere look and gesture
contrived to disparage his testimony.

None, save Miss Kennyfeck, perceived his tactic. She saw it, however,
and, with a readiness all her own, replied by a slight elevation of the
eyebrow. Jones saw his "signal acknowledged," and went home contented.
Poor man, he was not the first who has been taken into partnership
because his small resources were all "ready," and who is ejected from
the firm when wider and g