"Hope told a flattering tale." My good fairy deceived me. My
unpropitious star was again in the ascendant.

In fact, my bad genius reigned supreme, in spite of such counteracting
influences as my being at last admitted to Min's home and permitted to
watch her gliding movements about the room, hear her liquid voice, catch
the bright looks from her glancing grey eyes, speak to her, smile with
her, adore her.

Yes, in spite of all this, my bad influence reigned supreme; and, I'm
afraid, something wrong must have been done at my baptism to disgust my
better genii.

In the first place, I arrived too soon, which was a calamity in itself.
There is always pardon for one who goes late to an evening party--nay,
it often enhances his reputation. Absolution may even be extended to
the calculating individual who ravenously times his arrival by the
supper hour; but, for a simple-minded person, unaccustomed to the usages
of polite society, to believe in the invariability of fixed appointments
and, taking an invitation au pied de la lettre, make his appearance a
full hour before any other guest would dare to "turn up," from the fear
of being thought unfashionable, is simply monstrous! His behaviour is
perfectly inexcusable; and, as a punishment, he should in future be
compelled for a certain time to dine at our Saxon forefathers' early
hour, and go to bed at the sound of the curfew bell instituted by their
Norman conquerors--that is how I would teach him manners!

I committed this grievous fault on the present occasion. I had been so
anxious to get there in good time and not miss a minute of Min's
charming company, that, like our friend Paddy who ate his breakfast over
night in order to save time in the morning, I overdid it, arriving there
too early. I saw this at once from Mrs Clyde's face when I was
announced, the unhappy premier of all the coming guests.

Perhaps it was only my fancy, as I'm extremely sensitive on such points,
for she received me courteously enough, pressing the welcoming cup of
coffee and hospitable muffin in an adjoining ante-room on my notice;
but, I thought I could perceive, below the veneer of social civility, a
sort of "how-tiresome-of-you-to-come-before-anybody-else" look in her
eyes, which made me extremely small in my own estimation.

It was a horrible interval waiting for the other guests to come and
support me. I made a vow there and then that I would never again
present myself wherever