Carlo Dolce so very like Olivia?" interposed Mrs.
Kennyfeck, who was sadly hampered by her country relatives and their
reminiscences.

"So very like, madam, that I beg you to accept it as a portrait,"
replied Roland.

"Upon my word, then, young gentleman, you 're not so fond of a pretty
face as you might be," broke in Aunt Fanny, "or you would n't be
so ready to give it away." A very hearty laugh at the old lady's
eccentricity relieved Cashel from all necessity of explanation.

"The old masters are so good," said Mrs. Kennyfeck; "I delight in their
fine, vigorous touch."

"Why don't they put more clothes on their figures," said Aunt Fanny,
"even a warm climate is no excuse for the way the creatures went about."

"If you saw them in Hickweretickanookee," said Peter, "King John never
wore anything but a cocked-hat and a pair of short black gaiters the
missionary gave him for learning the Lord's Prayer."

"I hear that Lady Janet said Cary would be an excellent study for Helen
M'Gregor," said Mrs. Kennyfeck. "It was scarcely civil, however."

"It was more,--downright rude," said Cashel, reddening; "but Miss
Kennyfeck can afford to pay the penalty beauty always yields to its
opposite."

"There, my dear, that's a compliment," said Aunt Fanny, "and don't be
displeased. I say, darling, did n't he say a while ago you were like
somebody at Carlow?"

"A Carlo Dolce, aunt," broke in both sisters, laughing; and so the
dinner proceeded amid commonplaces, relieved occasionally from their
flatness by the absurdities of Aunt Fanny, who seemed as good-naturedly
proof against ridicule, as she was likely to evoke it.

Peter was the first to rise from table, as he was anxious to go to "the
play," and the ladies soon retired to the drawing-room, Mrs. Kennyfeck
slyly whispering, as she passed behind Roland's chair, an entreaty that
he would not long delay in following them. Cashel's anxiety to close his
_tete-a-tete_ arose from another cause,--his burning anxiety to
finish Enrique's letter; while Kennyfeck himself seemed beating about,
uncertain how to open subjects he desired to have discussed. After a
long pause, he said,--

"I was speaking to Pepystell yesterday, and he is of opinion that
there is no use in preserving any part of the old structure at
Tubbermore,--the great difficulty of adapting a new character of
architecture to the old would not repay the cost."

Cashel nodded a careless assent, and, after a pause, Kennyf