catch them, nor, I'm afraid, did Nina,' said Dick. 'Look
there! I'll be shot if she's not giving your friend the major a lesson!
When she performs in that way with her hands, you may swear she is
didactic.'

'I think I'll go to his relief,' said Walpole; 'but I own it's a case for
the V.C.'

As Walpole drew nigh, he heard her saying: 'Marry one of your own race, and
you will jog on well enough. Marry a Frenchwoman or a Spaniard, and she'll
lead her own life, and be very well satisfied; but a poor Irish girl, with
a fresh heart and a joyous temper--what is to become of her, with your dull
habits and your dreary intercourse, your county society and your Chinese
manners!'

'Miss O'Shea is telling me that I must not look for a wife among her
countrywomen,' said Lockwood, with a touching attempt to smile.

'What I overheard was not encouraging,' said Walpole; 'but I think Miss
O'Shea takes a low estimate of our social temperament.'

'Nothing of the kind! All I say is, you'll do mighty well for each other,
or, for aught I know, you might intermarry with the Dutch or the Germans;
but it's a downright shame to unite your slow sluggish spirits with the
sparkling brilliancy and impetuous joy of an Irish girl. That's a union I'd
never consent to.'

'I hope this is no settled resolution,' said Walpole, speaking in a low
whisper; 'for I want to bespeak your especial influence in my friend's
behalf. Major Lockwood is a most impassioned admirer of Miss Kearney, and
has already declared as much to her father.'

'Come over here, Mat Kearney! come over here this moment!' cried she, half
wild with excitement. 'What new piece of roguery, what fresh intrigue is
this? Will you dare to tell me you had a proposal for Kate, for my own
god-daughter, without even so much as telling me?'

'My dear Miss Betty, be calm, be cool for one minute, and I'll tell you
everything.'

'Ay, when I've found it out, Mat!'

'I profess I don't think my friend's pretensions are discussed with much
delicacy, time and place considered,' said Walpole.

'We have something to think of as well as delicacy, young man: there's a
woman's happiness to be remembered.'

'Here it is, now, the whole business,' said Kearney. 'The major there asked
me yesterday to get my daughter's consent to his addresses.'

'And you never told me,' cried Miss Betty.

'No, indeed, nor herself neither; for after I turned it over in my mind, I
began to see it wouldn't do--'

'How