at ran over its stony bed before them; listened to and talked of and
enjoyed the music of the birds as they turned the very air and hedges
into harmony. Lucy thought how happy she could be in such a calm and
delightful retreat, with the society of the man she loved, far from the
intrigue, and pride, and vanity, and ambition of life; and she could
scarcely help shuddering when she reflected upon the track of criminal
ambition and profligacy into which, for the sake of an empty and perhaps
a painful title, her father wished to drag her.

This train of thought, however, was dissipated by the appearance of Mr.
Mainwaring, who had returned from his stroll, and came out to seek for
them, accompanied by a young officer of very elegant and gentlemanly
appearance, whom he introduced as Captain Roberts, of the 33d, then
quartered in Dublin.

As an apology for the fact of Mr. Mainwaring having introduced a
stranger to Lucy, under circumstances where privacy was so desirable, it
may be necessary to say here, that Mrs. Mainwaring, out of delicacy
to Lucy, forbore to acquaint him even with a hint at the cause of her
visit, so far as Lucy, on the morning of her arrival, had hastily and
briefly communicated it to her. This she was resolved not to do without
her express permission.

"Allow me, ladies, to present to you my friend, Captain Roberts, of the
33d--or, as another older friend of mine, his excellent father, terms
it, the three times eleven--by the way, not a bad paraphrase, and worthy
of a retired school-master like myself. It is turning the multiplication
table into a vocabulary and making it perform military duty."

After the usual formalities had been gone through, Mr. Mainwaring, who
was in peculiarly excellent spirits, proceeded:

"Of course you know, every officer when introduced or travelling is
a captain--CAPTAIN--a good travelling name!--_Vide_ the play-books,
_passim_. My young friend, however, is at the present--you remember _as
in pasenti_, Edward--only an ensign, but, please God, old as some of
us are, Mrs. M. to wit--ahem! we will live to shake hands with him as
captain yet."

"You mean, of course, my dear," said his wife, "that I will live to
do so; the youngest, as the proverb has it, lives longest. No man, Mr.
Roberts, will more regret the improbability of verifying his own wishes
than Mr. Mainwaring."

"Ah, Martha! you're always too hard for me," he replied, laughing. "But
you must know that this young