y, it is not requisite to
decide it--whether Roland was more flattered by the enthusiastic praise
of the elder sister, or touched by the silent but eloquent look with
which Olivia received him.

"What a splendid sight, what a noble achievement!" said Miss Kennyfeck.
"How I thank you for thus giving me, as it were, a peep into Spain, and
letting me feel the glorious enthusiasm a deed of heroism can inspire!"

"Are you certain you are not hurt?" whispered Olivia; "the creature's
horns certainly grazed you. Oh dear! how terrible it was at one moment!"

"Are you going to leave him in his toils?" said Miss Kennyfeck.

"Oh, certainly," replied Cashel, laughing; "I commit the pleasant office
of liberating him to other hands." And so saying, he carelessly mounted
his horse, while they pressed him with a hundred questions and inquiries
about the late combat.

"I shall be amused to hear the reports that will be current to-morrow,"
said Miss Kennyfeck, "about this affair. I 'm certain the truth will
be the last to ooze out. My groom says that the creature belongs to the
Lord Lieutenant, and if so, there will be no end to the stories."

Cashel did not seem as much impressed as the sisters expected at
this announcement, nor at all aware that he had been constructively
affronting the Vice-Majesty of the land, and so he chatted away in
pleasant indifference while they continued their ride towards home.

CHAPTER X. THE COMING DINNER-PARTY DISCUSSED

How kindness all its spirit lends,
When we discuss our dearest friends,
Not meanly faults and follies hiding,
But frankly owning each backsliding,
Confessing with polite compassion,
"They 're very bad, but still the fashion."

The Mode.

The Kennyfecks were without strangers that day, and Cashel, who was now,
as it were by unanimous election, received into the bosom of the family,
enjoyed for the first time in his life a peep into the science of
dinner-giving, in the discussions occasioned by the approaching banquet.

No sooner were they assembled around the drawing-room fire, than
Mrs. Kennyfeck, whose whole soul was occupied by the one event, took
occasion, as it were by pure accident, to remember that they "were
to have some people to-morrow." Now, the easy _nonchalance_ of the
reminiscence and the shortness of the invitation would seem to imply
that it was merely one of those slight deviations from daily routine
which adds two or