Mrs Vansittart--God bless her kind
heart!--allows us just half an hour for an afther-dinner shmoke; then
she expects us to join her in the drawing-room until ten o'clock, and to
contribute, each in our separate ways, toward the entertainment of the
rest. Do ye sing by anny chance?"

I modestly replied that I did, a little, and that in a very amateurish
way I also played the fiddle. I may as well frankly confess that in my
inmost heart I rather prided myself upon my musical accomplishments,
music being a perfect passion with me. I had often been complimented
upon the quality of my baritone voice and my manner of using it, while
some who might be supposed to be competent judges had told me that I
ought to have devoted my energies to becoming a professional violinist.
But I was careful not to say anything of this.

"Good! That's capital!" exclaimed Monroe. "Mrs Vansittart will be
pleased to hear that, I know; for she is devoted to music, is herself a
brilliant musician, and will warmly welcome anyone who can contribute in
the slightest degree to the pleasure of our evenings. You have the
trick of telling a story well, too, Leigh; our hostess thoroughly
enjoyed the humour of that yarn of yours. You should cultivate the art
of story-telling; there are very few people who are able to tell a story
really well."

"Guess that's all nonsense, Mr Monroe," remarked Master Julius. "It's
the easiest thing in the world to talk. Anybody can do it."

"Well--yes, I suppose anybody can," returned Monroe. "But," he
continued, meaningly, "it is not everybody who can talk sense, Julius.
Moreover, the art of conversation consists in knowing when to talk--and
when to be silent."

Master Julius, however, did not agree with this. He argued the point
with Monroe so volubly and persistently that anything like general
conversation became impossible, and he kept it up until Kennedy, with a
glance at the clock on the mantelpiece, deposited his cigar stub in an
ash tray and announced that the half-hour was up, and that it was time
to adjourn to the drawing-room.

"Ah, here you are!" exclaimed Mrs Vansittart, who was seated at the
open piano as we filed into the drawing-room, Master Julius well in
advance. The boy marched straight across the room, without taking the
slightest notice of his mother, and seated himself beside his sister,
who occupied a settee in the far corner, and was apparently so deeply
absorbed in a book that she wa