d was presently persuaded to change her dress for Lord
Parham's arrival. By the time the operation was over she was full as
usual of smiles and chatter, with no trace apparently of the mood which
had gone before.

Lord Parham found the house-party assembled on the lawn, with Kitty in a
three-cornered hat, fantastically garnished at the side with a great
plume of white cock's feathers, presiding at the tea-table.

"Ah!" thought the Premier, as he approached--"now for the tare in Ashe's
wheat!"

Nothing, however, could have been more gracious than Kitty's reception
of him, or more effusive than his response. He took his seat beside her,
a solid and impressive figure, no less closely observed by such of the
habitual guests of the political country-houses as happened to be
present, than by the sprinkling of local clergy and country neighbors to
whom Kitty was giving tea. Lord Parham, though now in the fourth year of
his Premiership, was still something of a mystery to his countrymen;
while for the inner circle it was an amusement and an event that he
should be seen without his wife.

For some time all went well. Kitty's manners and topics were alike
beyond reproach. When presently she inquired politely as to the success
of his Scottish tour, Lord Parham hoped he had not altogether disgraced
himself. But, thank Heaven, it was done. Meanwhile Ashe, he supposed,
had been enjoying the pursuits of a scholar and a gentleman?--lucky
fellow!

"He has been reading the Bible," said Kitty, carelessly, as she handed
cake. "Just now he's in the Acts. That's why, I suppose, he didn't hear
the carriage. John!" She called a footman. "Tell Mr. Ashe that Lord
Parham has arrived!"

The Premier opened astonished eyes.

"Does Ashe generally study the Scriptures of an afternoon?"

Kitty nodded--with her most confiding smile. "When he can. He says"--she
dropped her voice to a theatrical whisper--"the Bible is such a 'd----d
interesting' book!"

Lord Parham started in his seat. Ashe and some of his friends still
faintly recalled, in their too familiar and public use of this
particular naughty word, the lurid vocabulary of the Peel and Melbourne
generation. But in a lady's mouth the effect was prodigious. Lord
Grosville frowned sternly and walked away; Eddie Helston smothered a
burst of laughter; the Dean, startled, broke off a conversation with a
group of archaeological clergymen and came to see what he could do to
keep Lady Kitty in o