miled on him most pleasantly. Lord Dunseveric was
sufficiently a man of the world to understand that this pretty lady was
flattering him. He even thought that she was not doing it very well,
that her methods were too obvious to be really artistic. Nevertheless,
he liked it. We most of us enjoy being flattered very much, especially
by pretty women, though we take a great deal of trouble to persuade
ourselves that we despise the flatterer and her ways. The Comtesse would
have said similar things to any man whom she wanted to please, and Lord
Dunseveric was quite aware of the fact. Still he was pleased. It was
a long time since a woman in a pretty dress, a woman who knew how to
assume a graceful attitude, had taken the trouble to flatter him. He
smiled response to her smile.

"I've no doubt that I should be, as you put it, well received. I'm not
afraid that His Excellency would show me the cold shoulder, but the
present condition of the country is critical. I think it my duty to
stay at home. I am afraid that we are on the brink of an attempt at
revolution."

"_Mon dieu!_ And have you Jacobins, too? I thought there were no such
things in Ireland. Tell me about your Jacobins."

Again Lord Dunseveric was conscious that the Comtesse was trying to
please him, was displaying an interest, which did not seem wholly
natural, in a subject on which he would like to talk.

"I'm afraid, Estelle, that an account of our Irish politics would
weary you. Politics are dull. You would send me away if I talked about
politics."

"I assure you, no," she said. "In France we found politics most
exciting. The poor Comte, my husband, found them altogether too
exciting. Do tell me about your Irish Jacobins. Are they also
_sans-culottes?_"

"They are mostly Presbyterians, dour, pigheaded, fanatical Republicans,
who want to get an army of your French friends over to help them."

"Presbyterians! How droll! I thought Presbyterians were----But is not
Maurice's friend, the young man who goes out fishing in the sea with
Una, is not he a Presbyterian? I think they said last night that he was
the son of a _cure_."

"Yes, he is. His father has the reputation of being one of the most
fanatical of the whole lot. But the young fellow is all right, so far as
I know."

The Comtesse was silent for a minute or two. She appeared to be
considering Lord Dunseveric's last remark. When she spoke again it was
evident that her thoughts had wandered from Neal Wa