eet was at
Chorley Bottom, and we got away in less than ten minutes after the
hounds had been in cover, with as plucky a fox as ever puzzled a
pack--'"

"Hold hard there!" interrupted Coleman, "I can't put all that in; nobody
ever wrote an account of a fox-hunt in a love-letter--no, 'You've given
up hunting, which no longer possesses any interest in your eyes'; now go
on."

"My eyes," repeated Lawless reflectively; "yes: 'I am become indifferent
to everything; I take no pleasure in the new dog-cart, King in Long Acre
is building for me, with cane sides, the wheels larger, and the seat, if
possible, still higher than the last, and which, if I am not very much
out in my reckoning, will follow so light--'"

"I can't write all that trash about a dog-cart," interrupted Freddy
crossly; "that's worse than the fox-hunting; stick to your feelings,
man, can't you?"

"Ah! you little know the effect such feelings produce," sighed Lawless.

"That's the style," resumed Coleman with delight; "that will come in
beautifully--'such feelings produce'; now, go on."

"'At night my slumbers are rendered distracting by visions of
you--as--as----'"

"'The bride of another,'" suggested Coleman.

"Exactly," resumed Lawless; "or, 'sleep refusing to visit my----'"

"'Aching eye-balls,'" put in Freddy. "'I lie tossing restlessly from
side to side, as if bitten by----'"

"'The gnawing tooth of Remorse;' that will do famously," added his
scribe; "now tell her that she is the cause of it."

"'All these unpleasantnesses are owing to you,'" began Lawless.

"Oh! that won't do," said Coleman; "no--'These tender griefs' (that's
the term, I think) 'are some of the effects, goods and chattels'--psha!
I was thinking of drawing a will--'the effects produced upon me by----'"

~366~~ "'The wonderful way in which you stuck to your saddle when the
mare bolted with you,'" rejoined Lawless enthusiastically; "what, won't
that do either?"

"No, be quiet, I've got it all beautifully now, if you don't interrupt
me: 'Your many perfections of mind and person--perfections which have
led me to centre my ideas of happiness solely in the fond hope of one
day calling you my own'."

"That's very pretty indeed," said Lawless; "go on."

"'Should I be fortunate enough,'" continued Coleman '"to succeed in
winning your affection, it will be the study of my future life to
prevent your every wish--'"

"Eh! what do you mean? not let her have her own way? Oh! that