war. Let me
have George's address."

"You 'll not need it, madam; he will be here within a few days. He has
been promoted to a majority for his conduct in the field, and returns to
England covered with praise and honors."

"What delightful news, Dr. Grounsell; you are actually charming this
morning!" The doctor bowed stiffly at the compliment, and she went
on: "I often thought that you could be amiable if you would only let
yourself; but, like the Cardinal Gualterino, you took up the character
of Bear, and 'Bear' you would be at all times and seasons; and then
those horrid coats, that you would persist in wearing,--how you ever got
them of that odious brown, I can't think; they must have dyed the wool
to order,--not but that I think your shoes were worst of all."

Grounsell understood too well the wordy absurdity with which her
Ladyship, on the least excitement, was accustomed to launch forth,
quite forgetful of all the impertinence into which it betrayed her. He
therefore neither interposed a remark, nor seemed in any way conscious
of her observation; but coldly waiting till she had concluded, he said,
----

"Some other of your Ladyship's friends are also expected in this
neighborhood,--the Daltons!"

"What--my dear Kate?"

"Yes; Miss Kate Dalton, accompanied by her brother and uncle. I have
just been to order apartments for them in the hotel at Kilkenny."

"But they must come here. I shall insist upon it, doctor. This is a
point on which I will accept no refusal."

"The occasion which calls them to Ireland, madam, and of which you shall
hear all, hereafter, would totally preclude such an arrangement."

"More mystery, sir?" exclaimed she.

"Another side of the same one, madam," rejoined he, dryly.

"What delightful news, to think I shall see my dearest Kate again! I
am dying to know all about Russia, and if the ladies do wear pearls
in morning toilette, and whether turquoises are only seen in fans and
parasol handles. What splendor she must have seen!"

"Humph!" said Grounsell, with a short shrug of the shoulders.

"Oh, I know you despise all these things, and you hate caviare. Then I
want to know about the Prince; why the match was broken off; and from
what cause she refused that great settlement,--some thousand roubles.
How much is a rouble, by the way, doctor?"

"I really cannot tell you, madam," said he, bluntly, who saw that she
was once more "wide a-field."

"She'll tell me all herself, and ev