ded in getting out of the hammock and was tying on
a pith hat, while Lord Steepleton had armed himself with balls and
rackets from a box on the verandah. As we bowed they came down the
steps, looking the very incarnation of animal life and spirits in the
anticipation of the game they loved best. The bright autumn sun threw
their figures into bold relief against the dark shadow of the verandah,
and I thought to myself they made a very pretty picture. I seemed to be
always seeing pictures, and my imagination was roused in a new
direction.

We rode away under the trees. My impression of the whole visit was
unsatisfactory. I had thought Mr. Currie Ghyrkins would be there, and
that I would be able to engage him in a political discussion. We could
have talked income-tax, and cotton duties, and Kabul by the hour, and
Miss Westonhaugh and Isaacs would have had a pleasant _tete-a-tete._
Instead of this I had been decidedly the unlucky third who destroys the
balance of so much pleasure in life, for I felt that Isaacs was not a
man to be embarrassed if left alone with a woman, or to embarrass her.
He was too full of tact, and his sensibilities were so fine that, with
his easy command of language, he must be agreeable _quand meme_; and
such an opportunity would have given him an easy lead away from the
athletic Kildare, whom I suspected strongly of being a rival for Miss
Westonhaugh's favour. There is an easy air of familiar proprietorship
about an Englishman in love that is not to be mistaken. It is a subtle
thing, and expresses itself neither in word nor deed in its earlier
stages of development; but it is there all the same, and the combination
of this possessive mood, with a certain shyness which often goes with
it, is amusing.

"Griggs," said Isaacs, "have you ever seen the Rajah of Baithopoor?"

"No; you had some business with him this morning, had you not?"

"Yes--some--business--if you call it so. If you would like to see him I
can take you there, and I think you would be interested in the--the
business. It is not often such gems are bought and sold in such a way,
and besides, he is very amusing. He is at least two thousand years old,
and will go to Saturn when he dies. His fingers are long and crooked,
and that which he putteth into his pockets, verily he shall not take it
out."

"A pleasing picture; a good contrast to the one we have left behind us.
I like contrasts, and I should like to see him."

"You shall." And