the guise of a domestic detective, to watch
proceedings and report on them,--a function which simplifies the due
conduct of a case, be it in love or law, beyond anything.

"How agreeable your papa must be this evening, my dear!" said Mrs.
Kennyfeck, as with a glance at the clock on the mantelpiece she
recognized that it was near ten.

[Illustration: 261]

"I 'm sure he is deep in one of his interminable law arguments, which
always makes Mr. Cashel so sleepy and so stupid, that he never recovers
for the rest of the evening."

"He ought to find the drawing-room all the pleasanter for the contrast,"
remarked Miss O'Hara, dryly. "I like to see young men--mind me well,
young men, it does n't do with old ones--thoroughly bored before they
come among the ladies. The sudden change to the tea, and the wax-lights,
and the bright eyes, are trying stimulants. Let them, however, be what
they call 'pleasant' below-stair, and they are sure to come up flushed
and excited, well satisfied with the host's claret, and only anxious to
order the carriage. What o'clock is it now?"

"A quarter-past ten, aunt."

"Too late; full three-quarters too late," ejaculated she, with the tone
of an oracle. "There is nothing your father could have to say should
have detained him till now. Play that little Mexican thing again, my
dear; and, Livy, love, leave the door a little open; don't you find the
heat of this room intolerable?"

The young ladies obeyed, and meanwhile Aunt Fanny, drawing her chair
closer to her sister's, said, in a low tone,--

"Well, explain the matter more clearly. Did he give her the diamonds?"

"No; that is the strangest of all," responded Mrs. Kennyfeck. "He just
told Leonard to send them home, and we never heard more about them."

Aunt Fanny shook her head.

"You know, he asked Olivia, as they were going downstairs, what she
thought of them; and she replied, 'They 're beautiful.'"

"How did she say it, though; was it like a mere casual remark, or did
she make it with feeling?"

"With feeling," echoed Mrs. Kennyfeck, pursing up her lips.

"Well?"

"Well! he just said, 'I'll take them,' and there was an end of it."

Aunt Fanny seemed to reflect, and, after some time, said,--

"Now, as to the horse, when did he make her a present of that?"

"It was to Caroline he gave the horse; sure I told you already."

"Very true, so you did; a bad feature of the case, too! She ought to
have declined it somehow."

"So she