"Of coarse I will, my dear Mrs. Morris, but not now,--not to-day. You
really are not equal to it at this moment."

"True, I am not!" said she, drying her eyes; "but it is a promise, and
you 'll not forget it."

"You only do me honor in the confidence," said he, kissing her hand.

"A thousand pardons!" cried a rich brogue. And at the same moment the
library door was closed, and the sound of retreating steps was heard
along the corridor.

"That insufferable O'Shea!" exclaimed she. "What will he not say of
us?"

CHAPTER XIV. THE BILLIARD-ROOM

Mr. O'Shea had a very happy knack at billiards. It was an accomplishment
which had stood him more in stead in life than even his eloquence in the
House, his plausibility in the world, or his rose-amethyst ring. That
adventurous category of mankind, who have, as Curran phrased it, "the
title-deeds of their estates under the crown of their hats," must, out
of sheer necessity, cultivate their natural gifts to a higher perfection
than that well-to-do, easy-living class for whom Fortune has provided
"land and beeves," and are obliged to educate hand, eye, and hearing to
an amount of artistic excellence of which others can form no conception.
Now, just as the well-trained singer can modulate his tones, suiting
them to the space around him, or as the orator so pitches his voice as
to meet the ears of his auditory, without any exaggerated effort, so did
the Member for Inch measure out his skill, meting it to the ability of
his adversary with a graduated nicety as delicate as that of a chemist
in apportioning the drops of a precious medicament.

It was something to see him play. There was a sort of lounging
elegance,--a half purpose-like energy, dashed with indolence,--a sense
of power, blended with indifference,--a something that bespoke the
caprice of genius, mingled with a spirit that seemed to whisper that,
after all, "cannons" were only vanity, and "hazards" themselves but
vexation of spirit. He was, though a little past his best years, a
good-looking fellow,--a thought too pluffy, perhaps, and more than a
thought too swaggering and pretentious; but somehow these same
attributes did not detract from the display of certain athletic graces
of which the game admits, for, after all, it was only Antinous fallen a
little into flesh, and seen in his waistcoat.

It was mainly to this accomplishment he owed the invitations he received
to the villa. Charles Heathcote, fully convince