itcher-shaped flowers, that had cost as much money as
prize pigeons, and seemed as worthless, save to the connoisseur in the
article. The Vawdrey racing-plate, won by Roderick's grandfather, was
nowhere by comparison with those marvellous tropical blossoms, that
fairy forest of fern. Everybody talked about the orchids, confessed his
or her comparative ignorance of the subject, and complimented Lady Jane.

"The orchids made the hit of the evening," Rorie said afterwards. "It
was their coming of age, not mine."

There was a moderate and endurable amount of speechifying by-and-by,
when the monster double-crowned pines had been cut, and the purple
grapes, almost as big as pigeons' eggs, had gone round.

The Duke of Dovedale assured his friends that this was one of the
proudest moments of his life, and that if Providence had permitted a
son of his own to attain his majority, he, the Duke, could have hardly
felt a deeper interest in the occasion than he felt to-day. He
had--arra--arra--known this young man from childhood, and
had--er--um--never found him guilty of a mean
action--or--arra--discovered in him a thought unworthy of an English
gentleman.

This last was felt to be a strong point, as it implied that an English
gentleman must needs be much better than any other gentleman.

A continental gentleman might, of course, be guilty of an unworthy
thought and yet pass current, according to the loose morality of his
nation. But the English article must be flawless.

And thus the Duke meandered on for five minutes or so, and there was a
subdued gush of approval, and then an uncomfortable little pause, and
then Rorie rose in his place, next to the Duchess, and returned thanks.

He told them all how fond he was of them and the soil that bred them.
How he meant to be a Hampshire squire, pure and simple, if he could.
How he had no higher ambition than to be useful and to do good in this
little spot of England which Providence had given him for his
inheritance. How, if he should go into Parliament by-and-by, as he had
some thoughts of attempting to do, it would be in their interests that
he would join that noble body of legislators; that it would be they and
their benefit he would have always nearest his heart.

"There is not a tree in the Forest that I do not love," cried Rorie,
fired with his theme, and forgetting to stammer; "and I believe there
is not a tree, from the Twelve Apostles to the Knightwood Oak, or a
patch of