e, Jim, that is a shrewd thought!" said Lord Charles, forgetting
that he was addressing her by a familiar sobriquet he never used before
company.

"You have a bet with him, Charley?" said Upton.

"Yes, we have all manner of bets on the race, and I 'll have one with
you, if you like it,--an even fifty that Tom turns up 'all right and no
accident,' after this bolt."

"Ah, my Lord, you 're in the secret, then!" said Aunt Fanny, whose
experiences of sporting transactions, derived from "the West," induced
her to suspect that a wager contained a trap-fall.

A very cool stare was the only acknowledgment he deigned to return to
this speech, while Mrs. Kennyfeck looked unutterable reproaches at her
unhappy relative.

"I call the present company to witness," said Sir Harvey Upton, "that
if Tom has to come to an untimely end, he has bequeathed to me his brown
cob pony, Batter."

"I protest against the gift," said Miss Kennyfeck; "Mr. Linton told me,
if he were killed in the steeplechase on Tuesday next, I should have
Batter."

"That was a special reservation, Miss Kennyfeck," said the Chief
Justice; "so that if his death did not occur in the manner specified,
the deed or gift became null and void."

"I only know," said Miss Meek, "that Mr. Linton said, as we came back
from the hurdle-field,--'Remember, Batter is yours if--if--'" She
hesitated and grew red, and then stopped speaking, in evident shame and
confusion.

"If what? Tell us the condition; you are bound to be candid," said
several voices together.

"I'll tell _you_ but I'll not tell any one else," said the young girl,
turning to Lady Kilgoff; and at the same instant she whispered in her
ear, "if I were to be married to Mr. Cashel."

"Well," said her Ladyship, laughing, "and was the bribe sufficient?"

"I should think not!" replied she, with a scornful toss of the head, as
she walked back to her seat.

"I winna say," said Sir Andrew, "but I ha' a bit claim mysel to that
bonnie snuff-box he ca'd a Louis-Quatorze; if ye mind, leddies, I
asked him to mak' me a present o' it, and he replied, 'In my weell, Sir
Andrew; I'll leave it ye in my weell.'"

"I foresee there will be abundance of litigation," said the Chief
Justice, "for the claims are both numerous and conflicting."

"You 'll not be troubled with the next of kin, I believe," said Lady
Janet, in her most spiteful of voices.

"I say, my Lord Chief Justice," said Frobisher, "let me have a
travelling o