gray-blue eyes regarded him with frankness; there was no touch of
tell-tale colour in the fair, piquant, freckled face; she smiled, as if
to one in whom she had perfect confidence.

'It is so kind of you,' she said, 'to have let my brother pay you a
visit to Kingscourt; I am afraid he must be dull here sometimes. And
he says he enjoyed it immensely, and that every one was so kind to him.
I hope he didn't disgrace himself--I mean in the shooting; you see he
has not had a great deal of practice.'

'Oh, he shot very well,' said Captain Frank King, somewhat hurriedly.
'Oh yes, very well. I should call him a very good shot. I am glad he
liked his visit.' But Frank King was not looking into Nan's eyes as he
spoke.

Then some one at the door said, 'Dinner is served, your Ladyship;' and
the company arranged themselves according to order, and went
downstairs. It fell to Captain King's lot to go down last, with Lady
Beresford; but when they reached the dining-table he found that his
neighbour was to be Madge, and he was glad of that.

Nan was opposite to him; he had discovered that at the first glance,
and thereafter he rather avoided looking that way. He endeavoured to
entertain Lady Beresford, and occasionally spoke a little to Madge; but
he was somewhat preoccupied on the whole; and very frequently he might
have been caught regarding the clergyman-guest with an earnest
scrutiny. Mr. Jacomb, to do him justice, was making himself the friend
of everybody. He could talk well and pleasantly; he had a number of
little jokes and stories; and he was making himself generally
agreeable. The efflorescent Roberts was anxious to know--as anxious,
that is, as a very devoted regard for his _menu_ would permit--the
precise position held by a certain High Churchman who was being harried
and worried by the law courts at this time; but Mr. Jacomb, with great
prudence, would have nothing to say on such subjects. He laughed the
whole matter off. He preferred to tell anecdotes about his Oxford
days; and gave you to understand that these were not far removed from
the present time. You might have guessed that he and his companions
were the least little bit wild. The names of highly respectable
dignitaries in the Church were associated with stories of scrapes that
were quite alarming, and with sayings that just bordered here and there
on the irreverent. But then, to a clergyman much is permitted; for it
is his business to know where