mountains, were served in a fashion that
showed the cook had benefited by English teachings.

"There are worse places than this, after all!" said O'Shea, as he sat
at one side of the fire, Heathcote opposite, and a small table liberally
covered with decanters between them.

"Wonderful Burgundy this," said Heathcote, gazing at his glass in the
light. "What does he call it?"

"He calls it Lafitte. These fellows think all red wines come from the
Bordeaux country. Here it is,--marked seven francs."

"Cheap at double the price. My governor will take every bottle of it."

"Not before I leave, I hope," said O'Shea, laughing. "I trust he 'll
respect what they call vested interests."

"Oh, by the way," said the other, indolently, "you _are_ going?"

"Yes. Our party are getting uneasy, and I am constantly receiving
letters pressing me to return to England."

"Want you in the House, perhaps?" said Heathcote, as he puffed his cigar
in lazy enjoyment.

"Just so. You see, a parliamentary session is a sort of campaign in
which every arm of warfare is needed. You want your great guns for the
grand battles, your dashing cavalry charges for emergencies, and your
light skirmishers to annoy the enemy and disconcert his advance."

"And which are _you?_" asked the other, in a tone of bantering
indifference.

"Well, I 'm what you might call a mounted rifleman,--a dash of the
dragoon with a spice of the sharpshooter."

"Sharp enough, I take it," muttered Heathcote, who bethought him of the
billiard-table, and the wonderful "hazards" O'Shea used to accomplish.

"You understand," resumed the Member, confidentially, "I don't come out
on the Budget, or Reform, or things of that kind; but I lie by till I
hear some one make a blunder or a mistake, no matter how insignificant,
and then I 'm down on him, generally with an anecdote--something he
reminds me of--and for which I 'm sure to have the laugh against him.
It's so easy, besides, to make them laugh; the worst jokes are always
successful in the House of Commons."

"Dull fellows, I suppose?" chimed in Heathcote.

"No, indeed; not that. Go down with six or eight of them to supper, and
you'll say you never met pleasanter company. 'T is being caged up there
all together, saying the same things over and over, that's what destroys
them."

"It must be a bore, I take it?" sighed out Heathcote.

"I'll tell you what it is," said O'Shea, as, in a voice of deepest
confidence, he leaned