dance with.'

'No, I shouldn't know how to say so to anyone but you,' said the little
man humbly; and so instinct were the words with truth that the girl, in
the violence of her emotion, fancied her heart had ceased to beat.

'But you haven't known me a fortnight,' she answered involuntarily.

'But that doesn't matter; the moment I saw you, I--I--liked you. It is
so easy to know the people we--like; we know it at once--at least I do.'

She was more self-possessed than he, but the words 'Am I--am I going to
be a marchioness?' throbbed like a burning bullet sunk into the very
centre of her forehead. And to maintain her mental equipoise she was
forced, though by doing so she felt she was jeopardizing her chances, to
coquette with him. After a long silence she said:

'Oh, do you think we know at first sight the people we like? Do you
believe in first impressions?'

'My first and last impressions of you are always the same. All I know is
that when you are present all things are bright, beautiful, and
cheering, and when you are away I don't much care what happens. Now,
these Castle balls used to bore me to death last year; I used to go into
a back room and fall asleep. But this year I am as lively as a kitten--I
think I could go on for ever, and the Castle seems to me the most
glorious place on earth. I used to hate it; I was as bad as Parnell, but
not for the same reasons, of course. Now I am only afraid he will have
his way, and they'll shut the whole place up. Anyhow, even if they do, I
shall always look back upon this season as a very happy time.'

'But you do not really think that Parnell will be allowed to have his
way?' said Violet inadvertently.

'I don't know; I don't take much interest in politics, but I believe
things are going to the bad. Dublin, they say, is undermined with secret
societies, and the murder that was committed the other day in Sackville
Street was the punishment they inflict on those whom they suspect of
being informers, even remotely.'

'But don't you think the Government will soon be obliged to step in and
put an end to all this kind of thing?'

'I don't know; I'm afraid they'll do nothing until we landlords are all
ruined.'

Violet's thin face contracted. She had introduced a subject that might
prevent him from ever proposing to her. She knew how heavily the
Kilcarney estates were mortgaged; and, even now, as she rightly
conjectured, the poor little man was inwardly trembling at the