. "Do you know how he
managed to appear in so short a time? We stopped two hours at a little
inn on the road while he made his toilette; and the whole get-up--paint
and padding and all--was done then. The great fur pelisse, in which
he made his entrance into the drawing-room, removed, he was in full
dinner-dress underneath. He's the best actor living."

"Have you known him long?"

"Oh, yes! I know all of them," said he, with a little gesture of his
hand: "that is, they take devilish good care to know _me_."

"Indeed!" exclaimed Jack, in the tone which seemed to ask for some
explanation.

"You see, here's how it is," said Cutbill, as he bent over his plate
and talked in a tone cautiously subdued: "All those swells--especially
that generation yonder--are pretty nigh aground. They have been living
for forty or fifty years at something like five times their income; and
if it had n't been for this sudden rush of prosperity in England, caused
by railroads, mines, quarries, or the like, these fellows would have
been swept clean away. He 's watching me now. I 'll go on by-and-by.
Have you any good hunting down here, Colonel Bramleigh?" asked he of the
host, who sat half hid by a massive centrepiece.

"You 'll have to ask my sons what it's like; and I take it they 'll
give you a mount too."

"With pleasure, Mr. Cutbill," cried Augustus. "If we have no frost,
we'll show you some sport on Monday next."

"Delighted,--I like hunting of all things."

"And you, my Lord, is it a favorite sport of yours?" asked Temple.

"A long life out of England--which has unfortunately been my case--makes
a man sadly out of gear in all these things; but I ride, of course,"
and he said the last words as though he meant to imply "because I do
everything."

"I'll send over to L'Estrange," said Augustus; "he's sure to know where
the meet is for Monday."

"Who is L'Estrange?" asked his Lordship.

"Our curate here," replied Colonel Bramleigh, smiling. "An excellent
fellow, and a very agreeable neighbor."

"Our only one, by Jove!" cried Jack.

"How gallant to forget Julia!" said Nelly, tartly.

"And the fair Julia,--who is she?" asked Lord Culduff.

"L'Estrange's sister," replied Augustus.

"And now, my Lord," chimed in Jack, "you know the whole neighborhood,
if we don't throw in a cross-grained old fellow, a half-pay lieutenant
of the Buffs."

"Small but select," said Lord Culduff, quietly. "May I venture to
ask you, Colonel Bramlei