mething more than a mere movement of irritation in this;
his Lordship regarded it as a fine stroke of policy, by which Dunn's
arrival, tinged with constraint and awkwardness, should place that
gentleman at a disadvantage during the time he stayed, Lord Glengariff's
favorite theory being that "these people were insufferable when at their
ease."

Ah, my Lord, your memory was picturing the poor tutor of twenty years
before, snubbed and scoffed at for his ungainly ways and ill-made
garments,--the man heavy in gait and awkward in address, sulky when
forgotten, and shy when spoken to,--this was the Davenport Dunn of your
thoughts; there the very door _he_ used to creep through in bashful
confusion, yonder the side-table where he dined in a mockery of
consideration. Little, indeed, were you prepared for him whose assured
voice was already heard outside giving orders to his servant, and who
now entered the drawing-room with all the ease of a man of the world.

"Ah, Dunn, most happy to see you here. No accident, I trust, occurred
to detain you," said Lord Glengariff, meeting him with a well-assumed
cordiality, and then, not waiting for his reply, went on: "My daughter,
Lady Augusta, an old acquaintance--if you have not forgotten her. Miss
Kellett you are acquainted with."

Mr. Dunn bowed twice, and deeply, before Lady Augusta, and then, passing
across the room, shook hands warmly with Sybella.

"How did you find the roads, Dunn?" asked his Lordship, still fishing
about for some stray word of apology; "rather heavy, I fear, at this
season."

"Capital roads, my Lord, and excellent horses. We came along at a rate
which would have astonished the lumbering posts of the Continent."

"Dinner, my Lord," said the butler, throwing wide the folding-doors.

"Will you give Lady Augusta your arm, Dunn?" said Lord Glengariff, as he
offered his own to Miss Kellett.

"We have changed our dinner-room, Mr. Dunn," said Lady Augusta, as they
walked along; thus by a mere word suggesting "bygones and long ago."

"And with advantage, I should say," replied he, easily, as he surveyed
the spacious and lofty apartment into which they had just entered. "The
old dinner-room was low-ceilinged and gloomy."

"Do you really remember it?" asked she, with a pleasant smile.

"An over-good memory has accompanied me through life, Lady Augusta,"
said he. And then, as he remarked the rising color of her cheek,
quickly added, "It is rarely that the faculty