h she
desired to appear particularly grand. The gentlemen were playing
billiards part of the day, and riding the rest, in neither of which
amusement Owen joined. Madame Duvet did her best to amuse him, and
succeeded very well, for Owen was far from insensible to the charms of
beauty, and, in spite of Gladys, could not resist flirting a little, in
his own matter-of-fact way, with a pretty woman.

The three ladies, Captain Dancy and Howel, were the dinner guests at Mr
Rice Rice's, the other gentlemen were invited for the dance in the
evening. Young Rice Rice had given Owen a lame invitation the previous
day, which he had declined; never having been in the habit of visiting
him when at home, he did not choose to do so under Howel's countenance.

Owen's astonishment was brought to a climax that evening when his sister
appeared dressed for this, her first public appearance on the small
stage of a country-neighbourhood, or, to speak more respectfully, county
visiting. It was Howel's pleasure that she should make it in point lace
and diamonds. Not even to Owen was it whispered that the lace was a
wonderfully good imitation, or that the diamonds, instead of being of
the first water, were first-rate paste; and no one suspected the
deception. The great millionnaire, Howel Jenkins, could well afford to
give his pretty wife the real jewels and lace, and had the credit of so
doing; and as no one, save himself and the jeweller, knew that they were
false, he thought himself a very clever fellow for gaining the
reputation of unbounded liberality upon very small means. Be it said,
however, that his own studs, pin and ring, were real.

The French maid had eclipsed herself in Netta's toilet, and Owen felt
that if she were not his sister, he must have fallen in love with her
himself. The black roguish eyes sparkled like the brilliants she wore,
and the complexion was scarcely rivalled by the roses she had in her
bouquet.

Howel looked really proud of her, and it is not surprising that he felt
greatly elevated as he took the reins from the coachman and drove off in
his fine new carriage, drawn by capital horses, and attended by liveried
servants.

His last whisper to Netta, before they entered Mr Rice Rice's
drawing-room was, 'Keep up your consequence, and don't say, "Yes,
indeed!" every minute.'

He was determined to keep up his own consequence, and began at once by
patronising everybody present. There were some of the county gentry