'

'For shame, Owen; Rashe never was in love.'

But he went on laughing at Rashe's disappointment at his solitary arrival
till she said, tartly, 'You cannot wonder at our thinking you must have
some reason for neither mentioning your companion's name nor bringing him
with you.'

'In fact, no man not under a cloud could abstain from paying homage to
the queen of the anglers.'

It was so true as to raise an angry spot on her cheek, and provoke the
hasty excuse, 'It would have been obvious to have brought your friend to
see your cousin and sister.'

'One broken-backed, both unwashed! O, the sincerity of the resistance I
overheard! No gentleman admitted, forsooth! O, for a lodge in some vast
wilderness! Yes; St. Anthony would have found it a wilderness indeed
without his temptations. What would St. Dunstan have been minus the
black gentleman's nose, or St. Kevin but for Kathleen? It was a
fortunate interposition that Calthorp turned up the day before I came, or
I might have had to drag the lake for you.'

This personal attack only made her persist. 'It was very different when
we were alone or with you; you know very well that there could have been
no objection.'

'No objection on your side, certainly, so I perceive; but suppose there
were no desire on the other?'

'Oh!' in a piqued voice, 'I know many men don't care for ladies' society,
but I don't see why they should be nameless.'

'I thought you would deem such a name unworthy to be mentioned.'

'Well, but who is the shy man? Is it the little Henniker, who used to
look as if he would dive under the table when you brought him from
Westminster?'

'If I told you, you would remember it against the poor creature for life,
as a deliberate insult and want of taste. Good night.'

He took his hat, and went out, leaving Lucy balancing her guesses between
Ensign Henniker and him whom she could not mention. Her rejection of Mr.
Calthorp might have occasioned the present secrecy, and she was content
to leave herself the pleasant mystery, in the hope of having it dispelled
by her last glance of Kingstown quay.

In that hope, she rocked herself to sleep, and next morning was so extra
vivacious as to be a sore trial to poor Rashe, in the anticipation of the
_peine forte et dure_ of St. George's Channel. Owen was also in high
spirits, but a pattern of consideration and kind attention, as he saw the
ladies on board, and provided for their comfort, not leaving the