s tasty and
'igh.'

'High game goes with high families,' wickedly murmured Herbert, causing
much tittering at his corner of the table; and this grew almost
convulsive, while another matron of the party observed--

'Mrs. Macdonald, Mr. Holt's sister in Scotland, once sent us some, and
really, Mrs. Morton, if you boil them down, they are almost as good as a
pat-ridge!'

'Oh, really now, Mrs. Holt! I hope you didn't tell Mrs. Macdonald so!'
said Mrs. Morton. 'It is a real valuable article, such as my brother,
Lord Northmoor, would only send to us, and one or two old friends that he
wishes to compliment at Hurminster. But one must be used to high society
to know how such things should be relished!'

'Are Lord Northmoor's moors extensive?' asked Mr. Rollstone.

'There's about four or five miles of them,' responded Herbert; 'and these
grouse are awfully shy.'

'Ah, the Earl of Blackwing owns full twenty miles of heather,' said the
ex-butler.

'Barren stuff!' growled the skipper; 'breeding nothing worth setting
one's teeth into!'

'There are seven farms besides,' put in Mrs. Morton. 'My brother is
going to have an audit-day next week.'

'You should have seen the Earl's audits,' said Mr. Rollstone.
'Five-and-twenty substantial tenant-farmers, besides artisans, and all
the family plate on the sideboard!'

'Ah, you should see the Northmoor plate!' said Mrs. Morton. 'There are
racing cups, four of them--not that any one could drink out of them, for
they are just centre-pieces for the table. There's a man in armour
galloping off headlong with a girl behind him-- Who did your uncle say
it was, Conny?'

'The Templar and Rowena, mamma,' said Constance.

'Yes, that was the best--all frosted. I liked that better than the one
where the girl with no clothes to speak of was running like mad after a
golden ball. They said that was an heirloom, worth five hundred--'

'Lord Burnside's yachting cups are valued at five thousand,' said Mr.
Rollstone. 'I should know, for I had the care of them, and it was a
responsibility as weighed on my mind.'

So whatever Mrs. Morton described as to the dignities and splendours of
Northmoor, Mr. Rollstone continued to cap with more magnificent
experiences, so that, though he never pretended to view himself in the
light of a participator in the grandeur he described, he continued, quite
unintentionally, so to depreciate the glories of Northmoor, that Mrs.
Morton began to recollect h