‘Then ’Melia and you’ll ’gree nicely,’ observed Mrs Jawleyford, who was always ready to give a helping hand to her own daughters, at least.

‘I don’t doubt it!’ replied his lordship, with emphasis, and a third bang of his hand, louder if possible than before. ‘And do you like horses?’ asked his lordship, darting sharply round on Emily, who had been yielding, or rather submitting, to the precedence of her sister.

‘Oh, yes; and hounds, too!’ replied she, eagerly.

‘And hounds, too!’ exclaimed his lordship, with a start, and another hearty bang of the fist; adding, ‘Well, now, I like a woman that likes hounds.’

Amelia frowned at the unhandsome march her sister had stolen upon her. Just then in came Jawleyford, much to the annoyance of all parties. A host should never show before the dressing-bell rings.

When that glad sound was at length heard, the ladies, as usual, immediately withdrew; and of course the first thing Amelia did when she got to her room was to run to the glass to see how she had been looking; when, grievous to relate, she found an angry hot spot in the act of breaking out on her nose.

What a distressing situation for a young lady, especially one with a spectacled suitor. ‘Oh, dear!’ she thought, as she eyed it in the glass, ‘it will look like Vesuvius itself through his formidable inquisitors.’ Worst of all, it was on the side she would have next him at dinner, should he choose to sit with his back to the fire. However, there was no help for it, and the maid kindly assuring her, as she worked away at her hair, that it ‘would never be seen,’ she ceased to watch it, and turned her attention to her toilette. The fine, new broad-lace flounced, light blue satin dress -- a dress so much like a ball-dress as to be only appreciable as a dinner one by female eyes -- was again in requisition; while her fine arms were encircled with chains and armlets of various brilliance and devices. Thus attired, with a parting inspection of the spot, she swept downstairs, with as smart a bouquet as the season would afford. As luck would have it, she encountered his lordship himself wandering about the passage in search of the drawing- room, of whose door he had not made a sufficient observation on leaving. He, too, was uncommonly smart, with the identical dress-coat Mr Spraggon wore, a white waistcoat with turquoise buttons, a lace- frilled shirt, and a most extensive once-round Joinville. He had been eminently successful in accomplishing a tie that would almost rival the sticks farmers put upon truant geese to prevent their getting through gaps or under gates.

Well, Miss Amelia having come to his lordship’s assistance, and eased him of his candle, now showed him into the drawing-room; and his hands being disengaged, like a true Englishman, he must be doing, and accordingly he commenced an attack on her bouquet.

‘That’s a fine nosegay!’ exclaimed he, staring and running his snub nose into the midst of it.

‘Let me give you a piece,’ replied Amelia, proceeding to detach some of the best.

‘Do,’ replied his lordship, banging one hand against the other; adding, ‘I’ll wear it next my heart of hearts.’

In sidled Miss Emily just as his lordship was adjusting it in his buttonhole, and the inconstant man immediately chopped over to her.

‘Well, now, that is a beautiful nosegay!’ exclaimed he, turning upon her in precisely the same way, with a bang of the hand and a dive of his nose into Emily’s.

She did not offer him any, and his lordship continued his attention to her until Mrs Jawleyford entered.

Dinner was presently announced; but his lordship, instead of choosing to sit with his back to the fire, took the single chair opposite, which gave him a commanding view of the young ladies. He did not, however, take any advantage of his position during the repast, neither did he talk much, his maxim being to let