mere, with his beautiful Countess leaning lovingly on
his arm, are pacing leisurely up and down among the assembled guests,
exchanging here and there words of courteous pleasantry. Lounging over
the back of a handsome fautiel, Colonel Snaffle, of the Lancers, is
conversing with Pauline Barton, in his usual gay and lively manner,
relating to some reminiscence which occurred to them while dwelling on
the sunny plains of Hindostan. Horace Barton, Aunt Cotterell and the
Rev. Charles Denham were discussing some knotty point concerning high
and low church, etc., while some political question was evidently
exciting the minds of the worthy old Stockbroker, Dr. Ashburnham, and
Tom Barton. The good natured Draycott was exhausting his powers of
pleasing by relating to Mrs. Ashburnham, her sister Emily and pretty
Cousin Kate, the last _on dit_ going the rounds of the fashionable
circles at the metropolis.

Light-hearted, happy children gamboled on the broad marble steps, or
seated on soft cushions at their parents' feet, listened to the
sparkling wit, repartee and agreeable rattle that broke forth among the
gay loungers on the terrace. Occasionally the eyes of the whole party
would rest with admiration and pride on the scene enacting before them,
and well they might, for on the smooth, soft, velvet-like sward of the
croquet lawn, eight youthful figures, the eldest scarcely sixteen, were
engaged in that most exhilarating, delightful and exciting of all out
door amusements, the game of croquet.

The Lady Eglentine Carlton, eldest daughter of the Countess of
Castlemere, a tall, graceful girl, inheriting all her mother's soft
beauty of form and features, stood with her small, exquisitely shaped
foot resting on a bright, blue ball, evidently listening to some
suggestion of her partner, Clarence Ashburnham, preparatory to giving
the final stroke that would croquet her adversary's ball to a
considerable distance. Not far off stood, in an easy position, the
Earl's handsome son and heir, Lord Adolphus Carlton, mallet in hand,
explaining to pretty Alice Denham, the rector's daughter, what effect on
the game his sister's stroke would have if correctly given. Kate Barton,
the little golden-haired fairy, as she was called generally, is
chatting merrily with the Honourable Eustace Carlton, a noble,
aristocratic looking youth, with chestnut curls and the bright, flashing
eyes of the Earl, his father, declaring with great animation that their
si