th

"A single rose in her hair."

As he told his wife, a few days after, he was struck "all of a heap;"
and Sam heard him whisper to himself, "By Jove!" before he went up to
Alice and spoke.

"My dear young lady, you and I ought not to be strangers, for I
recognise you from my recollections of your mother. Can you guess who I
am?"

"I recognise you from my recollections of your son, sir," said Alice,
with a sly look at Sam; "I should say that you were Major Buckley."

The Major laughed, and, taking her hand, carried it to his lips: a
piece of old-fashioned courtesy she had never experienced before, and
which won her heart amazingly.

"Come, come, Buckley!" said the quiet voice of Captain Brentwood from
the dark passage; "what are you at there with my daughter? I shall have
to call out and fight some of you young fellows yet, I see."

Alice went in past her father, stopping to give him a kiss, and
disappeared into the breakfast-room. The Captain came out, and shook
hands warmly with the Major, and said,

"What do you think of her,--eh?"

"I never saw such beauty before," answered the Major; "never, by Jove!
I tell you what, Brentwood, I wish she could come out this season in
London. Why, she might marry a duke."

"Let us get her a rouge-pot and a French governess, and send her home
by the next ship; eh, Buckley?" said the Captain, with his most
sardonic smile. "She would be the better for a little polishing;
wouldn't she, eh? Too hoydenish and forward, I am afraid; too fond of
speaking the truth. Let's have her taught to amble, and mince, and----
Bah, come to breakfast!"

The Major laughed heartily at this tirade of the Captain's. He was fond
of teasing him, and I believe the Captain liked to be teased by him.

"And what are you three going to do with yourselves to-day, eh?" asked
the Captain at breakfast. "It is a matter of total indifference to me,
so long as you take yourselves off somewhere, and leave me in peace."

Alice was spokesman:--"We are going up to the Limestone Gates; Mr.
Samuel Buckley has expressed a desire to see them, and so Jim and I
thought of taking him there."

This was rather a jesuitical speech. The expedition to the Limestone
Gates involved a long ride through very pretty scenery, which she
herself had proposed. As for Sam, bless you! he didn't care whether
they rode east, west, north, or south, so long as he rode beside her;
however, having got his cue, he expressed a stron