th her allotted charioteer.

Bertie had advanced to take her cup, and as she said this, it seemed to
Cecil he touched her hand caressingly under cover of it.

"I dare say," said she sharply, "Alice Kendal has as many admirers as
other people, and, perhaps, can dispense with counting Captain Du Meresq
among them."

Bluebell looked up, astonished at her manner; but Bertie perceived it
with more intelligence, and the thought, "What a bore it will be if
she is jealous," afterwards passed through his mind,--by which may be
inferred he had had in contemplation the acquisition of "Heaven's last
best gift."

CHAPTER VII.

THE GARRISON SLEIGH CLUB.

'T were a pity when flowers around us rise,
To make light of the rest, if the rose be not there;
And the world is so rich in resplendent eyes,
'T were a pity to limit one's love to a pair.
--Moore.

"I never saw a prettier sight in my life," cried Cecil, as she stood with
a motley group in the verandah of "The Maples," the rendezvous of the
sleighing party. As each sleigh turned in at the gate and deposited its
freight, it fell into rank which extended all round the lawn, till
scarcely a space was left on the drive that encircled it, and the air
rang with the bells on the nodding horses' heads.

"What the--blazes!" ejaculated Bertie, as Mr. Vavasour rounded the
corner at a trot in a red-wheeled tandem, scarlet plumes on the horses,
and the robes a combination of black bear-skins and scarlet trimming. The
leader, a recent importation from England, better acquainted with the
hunting-field than the traces, reared straight on end; but a judicious
flick on her ear sent her with a bound almost into the next sleigh, and
the tandem drew up at the hall door to an inch.

"Post? mail-cart? nonsense!" said Jack, shaking hands all round 'mid an
avalanche of chaff. "Nice cheerful colour for a cold day; that's all."

"Quite scorching," said Major Fane. "Well, Miss Rolleston, if they leave
us behind at the turnpikes, we shall never lose sight of them with Jack's
flames for a beacon."

"How do you like your tandem, Bluebell?" asked Cecil, "and how far do you
expect to get before Mr. Vavasour upsets you?" added she, _sotto voce_.

"I don't care if he chooses a good place," laughed Bluebell.

"Why, I thought Bertie wasn't going," said, Mrs. Rolleston, as that
individual drove up in a modest cutter with a gentleman compa