they want--and the right of every man to live idle at the cost of the
state! Why, God bless my soul! the idea that you are to try to pacify
these ignorant savages--"

But here Lionel, who began to fancy that he had discovered another
Octavius Quirk, was afforded relief; for the minister himself appeared;
and at the very sight of him Lord Fareborough indignantly quitted the
room. The minister, who was a rather irascible-looking little man with a
weather-reddened face and rusty whiskers, inquired of Lionel whether it
was possible to procure a glass of milk; but when Lionel rang the bell
and had some brought for him, the minister observed that milk by itself
was a dangerous thing in the morning; whereupon the butler had to be
sent for, who produced the spirit-decanter; and then, and finally, the
minister, boldly discarding the milk altogether, poured out for himself
a good solid dram, and drank it off with much evident satisfaction.

Now the ladies began to make their appearance, some of them going along
to the gun-room to hear what the head keeper had to say, others of them
trooping out by the front door to guess at the weather. Among the latter
was Miss Honnor Cunyngham; and Lionel, who had followed her, went up to
her.

"A beautiful morning, isn't it?" he said.

"I'm afraid it's too beautiful," said she, in reply. "Look up there."

And she was right. This was far too picturesque and vivid a morning to
portend well for a shooting-day. Down at the farther end of the strath,
the skies were banked up with dark and heavy clouds; the lake-like sweep
of the river was of a sombre and livid blue; and between the indigo
stream and the purple skies, a long neck of land, catching the sunlight,
burned the most brilliant gold. And even as they stood and looked, a
faint gray veil gradually interposed between them and the distant
landscape; a rainbow slowly formed, spanning the broad valley; and then
behind the fairy curtain of the shower they could see the yellow
river-banks, and the birchwoods, and the farther-stretching hills all
vaguely and spectrally shining in the sun.

"But this is a very peculiar glen," said she. "It often threatens like
that when it means nothing. You may get a perfectly dry, still day after
all. And, Mr. Moore, may I ask you if what you said about your shooting
yesterday afternoon was entirely true or only a bit of modesty?"

"If it comes to that," he said, "I never shot a grouse in my life--no,
nor ev