her adieu.

"I really have no patience with that girl," said Lady Mary, when she
found herself outside. "I think her making a present to a young man
like Mr. Beauchamp is going a great deal more than half-way."

"Oh, I don't know, mamma," replied Blanche; "she has known him all her
life; and you know he did save her bracelet."

"Very indelicate of her ever to have made such a wager," retorted Lady
Mary, quite trumpeting in her wrath.

"I have known you bet yourself, mamma," rejoined Blanche; "and I think
she was perhaps carried away by the excitement of the occasion. I
wonder what it is that she has given him?"

It was curious, that although Miss Bloxam was as uncomfortable
concerning that gift as her mother, she still took Sylla's part
regarding it. She was a proud girl, and it was probable that she
shrank from owning even to her mother that it could possibly matter to
her what presents any lady might choose to bestow on Mr. Beauchamp.

CHAPTER IX.

SATURDAY AT HURLINGHAM.

Hurlingham in the merry month of June, just when the east winds have
ceased to trouble; when the roses and strawberries are at their best;
when the lamb is verging towards muttony, and the whitebait are growing
up; when the leaves are yet young, and Epsom and Ascot either pleasant
or grim memories of the past. Can anything be more delightful than
Hurlingham on a fine Saturday afternoon? that one week-day when the
daughters of Venus throng the pleasant grounds, and the birds sacred to
the goddess are held sacred for fear that the shooters should scatter
the coaches--it would be too grievous that the destruction of pigeons,
through frightening the horses, should result in the upsetting of a
drag bearing a bevy of London's fairest daughters. What matches have
been made here both for life and for centuries--as, in the "shibboleth"
of our day, a hundred pounds is sometimes termed! Much damage at times
has no doubt accrued both to the hearts of humanity and the legs of the
polo ponies. The coaches gather thick about their allotted end of the
grassy paddock; drag after drag drops quietly into its position; the
teams are unharnessed and led slowly away; and their passengers either
elect to view the forthcoming match from their seats of vantage, or,
alighting, stroll up and mix with the fashionable crowd that throngs
the far side of the lawn-like paddock. All London has flocked to
Hurlingham to-day to enjoy the bright afternoon, indul