opping in" was subordinate
to his wish to cut a figure on the occasion; and he pottered about from
the dining-room to the kitchen, peeped into saucepans, and scrutinized
covered dishes with a most persistent activity. Nor was Bella herself
quite averse to all this. She saw in the distance--remotely it might
be--the glimmering of a renewed interest about poor Jack. "The pleasure
this little incident imparts," thought she, "will spread its influence
wider. He 'll talk of him too; he 'll be led on to let him mingle with
our daily themes. Jack will be one of us once more after this;" and so
she encouraged him to make of the occasion a little festival.

What skill did she not practise, what devices of taste not display,
to cover over the hard features of their stern poverty! The few little
articles of plate which remained after the wreck of their fortune were
placed on the sideboard, conspicuous amongst which was a cup "presented
by his brother officers to Captain Paul Kellett, on his retirement
from the regiment, with which he had served thirty-eight years,"--a
testimonial only exhibited on the very most solemn occasions. His sword
and sash--the same he wore at Waterloo--were arrayed over the fireplace,
and his Talavera chako--grievously damaged by a French sabre--hung above
them. "If he begins about 'that expedition,'"--it was thus he always
designated the war in the Crimea,--"Bella, I 'll just give him a touch
of the real thing, as we had it in the Peninsula! Faith, it wasn't
digging holes in the ground we were then;" and he laughed to himself at
the absurdity of the conceit.

The few flowers which the garden owned at this late season, humble and
common as they were, figured on the chimney-piece, and not a resource
of ingenuity was neglected to make that little dinner-room look pleasant
and cheery. Fully a dozen times had Kellett gone in and out of the room,
never weary of admiring it, and as constantly muttering to himself some
praise of Bella, to whose taste it was all owing. "I 'd put the cup in
the middle of the table, Bella. The wallflowers would do well enough
at the sideboard. Well, maybe you 're right, darling; it is less
pretentious, to be sure. And be careful, dear, that old Betty has
a clean apron. May I never, but she's wearing the same one since
Candlemas! And don't leave her any corks to draw; she's the devil for
breaking them into the bottle. I 'll sit here, where I can have the
screw at my hand. There 's