sin on his
conscience than shooting a blackcock on the Twelfth, he should sleep
sound o' nights. Waveney is fastidious. I dare say, if the bird had come
my way, I should not have resisted the temptation."

Lionel considered that Sir Hugh was an exceedingly considerate and
good-natured person; and in fact when they picked up the dead bird, and
when he was regarding its handsome plumage, it cannot fairly be said
that he was very sorry for his venial mistake. Only he considered he was
bound in honor to make confession to Miss Cunyngham.

Alas! he was to see little of Miss Cunyngham that night. As soon as
dinner was over--and Sir Hugh and his satellite had left the dining-room
to enter up the game-book, write labels for special friends, and
generally finish up the business of the day--Lady Adela proposed a game
of Dumb Crambo; and in this she was heartily backed up by the
Lestranges, for Miss Georgie seemed to think that the mantle of Kitty
Clive had descended upon her shoulders, while her brother evidently
regarded himself as a facetious person. Speedily it appeared, however,
that there was to be a permanent and stationary audience. Lord
Fareborough--especially after dinner, when his nervous system was still
in dark deliberation as to what it meant to do with him--was too awful a
personage to be approached; Honnor Cunyngham good-humoredly said that
she was too stupid to join in; and Lord Rockminster declared that if
that was her excuse, it applied much more obviously to himself.
Accordingly, the remaining members of the house-party had to form the
entertainers; and never had Lionel entered into any pastime with so
little zest. These people could not act a bit, and yet he had to coach
them; and then he and they had to go into the drawing-room and perform
their antics before that calm-browed young lady (who nevertheless
regarded the proceedings with the most friendly interest) and her
companion, the stolid young lord. He could not help acknowledging to
himself that Miss Honnor Cunyngham and Lord Rockminster formed a
remarkably handsome couple as they sat together there on a couch at
right angles with the fireplace; but the distinguished appearance of the
audience did not console him for the consciousness that the performers
were making themselves absurd. He was impatient, ashamed, of the whole
affair. Dark and sullen thoughts went flashing through his brain of
saving up every penny he could get hold of and going away into s