th you in a jiffy if you try it.

They want the bridle-rein. That seems to me the secret of Irish
character. We English are not bad horsemen. It's a wonder we blunder so
in our management of such a people.'

'I wish you were in a position to put your method to the proof,' said
she.

He shrugged. 'There's little chance of it!'

To reward him for his practical discretion, she contrived that Diana
should give him a final dance; and the beautiful gill smiled quickly
responsive to his appeal. He was, moreover, sensible in her look and
speech that he had advanced in her consideration to be no longer
the mere spinning stick, a young lady's partner. By which he humbly
understood that her friend approved him. A gentle delirium enfolded his
brain. A householder's life is often begun on eight hundred a year:
on less: on much less:--sometimes on nothing but resolution to make
a fitting income, carving out a fortune. Eight hundred may stand as a
superior basis. That sum is a distinct point of vantage. If it does
not mean a carriage and Parisian millinery and a station for one of the
stars of society, it means at any rate security; and then, the heart of
the man being strong and sound...

'Yes,' he replied to her, 'I like my experience of Ireland and the
Irish; and better than I thought I should. St. George's Channel ought to
be crossed oftener by both of us.'

'I'm always glad of the signal,' said Diana.

He had implied the people of the two islands. He allowed her
interpretation to remain personal, for the sake of a creeping
deliciousness that it carried through his blood.

'Shall you soon be returning to England?' he ventured to ask.

'I am Lady Dunstane's guest for some months.'

'Then you will. Sir Lukin has an estate in Surrey. He talks of quitting
the Service.'

'I can't believe it!'

His thrilled blood was chilled. She entertained a sentiment amounting to
adoration for the profession of arms!

Gallantly had the veteran General and Hero held on into the night,
that the festivity might not be dashed by his departure; perhaps, to a
certain degree, to prolong his enjoyment of a flattering scene. At last
Sir Lukin had the word from him, and came to his wife. Diana slipped
across the floor to her accommodating chaperon, whom, for the sake of
another five minutes with her beloved Emma, she very agreeably persuaded
to walk in the train of Lord Larrian, and forth they trooped down a
pathway of nodding heads and curtsi