y did not know her by sight
even?--he had to inquire her name this evening."

"Why, Frederick is generally obliged to be in town, you know; and I
have observed that when he is down here Mr. Vernor never brings her with
him."

"He had better make a nun of her at once," said I.

"Perhaps she won't be a nun!" said, or rather sang Lucy. And here we
joined the waltzers again, and the conversation ended.

CHAPTER XIV -- THE BALL

"I could be pleased with any one,
Who entertained my sight with such gay shows
As men and women, moving here and there,
That coursing one another in their steps,
Have made their feet a tune."
--Dryden.

"And run through fire I will for thy sweet sake."

"Come now, what... shall we have,
To wear away this long age of three hours,
Between our after-supper and bed-time?"
--Midsummer Night's Dream.

"By Jove! this is hot work!" exclaimed Lawless, flinging himself down on
a sofa so violently as to make an old lady, who occupied the farther end
of it, jump to an extent which seriously disarranged an Anglo-Asiatic
~123~~nondescript, believed in by her as a turban, wherewith she adorned
her aged head. "If I have not been going the pace like a brick for the
last two hours, it's a pity; what a girl that Di Clapperton is to step
out!--splendid action she has, to be sure, and giving tongue all the
time too. She's in first-rate training, 'pon my word: I thought she'd
have sewn me up at one time--the pace was terrific. I must walk into old
Coleman's champagne before I make a fresh start; when I've recovered my
wind, and got a mouthful of hay and water, I'll have at her again, and
dance till all's blue before I give in."

"My dear fellow," said I, "you must not dance all the evening with the
same young lady; you'll have her brother call upon you the first thing
to-morrow morning to know your intentions."

"He shall very soon learn them as far as he is concerned, then," replied
Lawless, doubling his fist. "Let me have him to myself for a quiet
twenty minutes, and I'll send him home with such a face on him that his
nearest relations will be puzzled to recognise him for the next month to
come at least. But what do you really mean?"

"That it's not etiquette to go on dancing with one young lady the whole
evening; you must ask some one else."

"Have all the bother to go over again, eh? wha