n't forgotten, Mr. Evers. I am looking forward to it,"
said my companion, with a smile of her own to which the most jealous
swain could not have taken exception.

Bob Evers looked hard at me.

"You'd better come, too," he said.

"It's probably too far," said I, quite intending to play second fiddle
next day, for it was really Bob's turn.

"Not for a man who has been up to the Cricket-ground," he rejoined.

"But it's dreadfully slippery," put in Mrs. Lascelles, with a
sympathetic glance at my sticks.

"Let him get them shod like alpenstocks," quoth Bob, "and nails in his
boots; then they'll be ready when he does the Matterhorn!"

It might have passed for boyish banter, but I knew that it was something
more; the use of the third person changed from chaff to scorn as I
listened, and my sympathetic resolution went to the winds.

"Thank you," I replied; "in that case I shall be delighted to come, and
I'll take your tip at once by giving orders about my boots."

And with that I resigned my chair to Bob, not sorry for the chance; he
should not be able to say that I had monopolised Mrs. Lascelles without
intermission from the first. Nevertheless, I was annoyed with him for
what he had said, and for the moment my actions were no part of my
scheme. Consequently I was thus in the last mood for a familiarity from
Quinby, who was hanging about the door between the veranda and the hall,
and who would not let me pass.

"That's awfully nice of you," he had the impudence to whisper.

"What do you mean?"

"Giving that poor young beggar another chance!"

"I don't understand you."

"Oh, I like that! You know very well that you've gone in on the military
ticket and deliberately cut the poor youngster--"

I did not wait to hear the end of this gratuitous observation. It was
very rude of me, but in another minute I should have been guilty of a
worse affront. My annoyance had deepened into something like dismay. It
was not only Bob Evers who was misconstruing my little attentions to
Mrs. Lascelles. I was more or less prepared for that. But here were
outsiders talking about us--the three of us! So far from putting a stop
to the talk, I had given it a regular fillip: here were Quinby and his
friends as keen as possible to see what would happen next, if not
betting on a row. The situation had taken a sudden turn for the worse. I
forgot the pleasant hours that I had passed with Mrs. Lascelles, and
began to wish myself well out of