of saying, 'Surely, before now you have looked on
Miss Gryll,' but she checked herself. She was content to receive the
speech as a sudden ebullition of gratitude for sympathy, and disengaging
her hands, she insisted on his returning immediately to the house to
change his 'dank and dripping weeds.'

As soon as he was out of sight she went to the boat-house, to summon the
men who had charge of it to the scene of the accident. Putting off in
another boat, they brought the capsized vessel to land, and hung up the
sail to dry. She returned in the evening, and finding the sail dry, she
set it on fire. Lord Curryfin, coming down to look after his tackle,
found the young lady meditating over the tinder. She said to him--

[Illustration: That sail will never put you under the water again
150-120]

He was touched by this singular development of solicitude for his
preservation, but could not help saying something in praise of his
invention, giving a demonstration of the infallibility of the principle,
with several scientific causes of error in working out the practice. He
had no doubt it would be all right on another experiment. Seeing that
her looks expressed unfeigned alarm at this announcement, he assured
her that her kind interest in his safety was sufficient to prevent his
trying his invention again. They walked back together to the house, and
in the course of conversation she said to him--

'The last time I saw the words Infallible Safety, they were painted
on the back of a stage-coach which, in one of our summer tours, we saw
lying by the side of the road, with its top in a ditch, and its wheels
in the air.'

The young lady was still a mystery to _Lord Curryfin._

'Sometimes,' he said to himself, 'I could almost fancy Melpomene in love
with me. But I have seldom seen her laugh, and when she has done so now
and then, it has usually been at me. That is not much like love. Her
last remark was anything but a compliment to my inventive genius.'

CHAPTER XVII

HORSE-TAMING--LOVE IN DILEMMA--INJUNCTIONS--SONOROUS VASES

O gran contrasto in giovenil pensiero,
Desir di laude, ed impeto d'amore 1
Ariosto: c. 25.

How great a strife in youthful minds can raise
Impulse of love, and keen desire of praise.

Lord Curryfin, amongst his multifarious acquirements, had taken lessons
from the great horse-tamer, and thought himself as well qualified as
his master to subdue an