as we
imagine them, instead of as they actually are! I would lay a small
wager, for instance, that your low spirits are the result simply of
looking through the wrong end of the telescope."

"Don't talk nonsense, Mr. Cottrell! I feel a little hipped to-day, but
every one does at times. I cannot plead any excuse for it."

"I am very glad to hear you say that," replied Cottrell gravely. "I
thought perhaps you might be put out by this affair of your brother's."

"Affair of my brother's!" exclaimed Blanche quickly. "Jim surely is in
no trouble! Why, he is here!"

"Exactly. No need to assure you he is a very long way off from being
in trouble; having, on the contrary, a particularly good time, I should
say judging from what I last saw of him. But surely, Miss Blanche, you
must have observed that a man's relations are often moved to tears at
the mode in which he takes his pleasure, and, as a rule, always
consider they are far more capable of choosing a wife for him than he
is."

"Choosing a wife! Do you mean to tell me Jim is going to be married?"

"I presume so. I can only say he and Miss Chipchase are engaged in a
very high-pressure flirtation, if it only means that."

"Jim going to marry Sylla! Why, I thought----" And here Blanche
paused abruptly, and a rather compromising blush suffused her face.

"Ah, you thought," observed Cottrell, "that it was a mere flirtation.
Well, there is no doubt that sisters don't often make a mistake about a
brother's love affair when it comes within their knowledge; but in this
instance I venture to think I am right."

Miss Bloxam's unnatural blindness to her brother's growing passion for
Sylla Chipchase can be easily accounted for. Neither she nor her
mother knew anything about his visits to Hans Place. Jim by no manner
of means thought it necessary to call upon his own people every time he
came up from Aldershot, and they were consequently unaware even of his
being in town five times out of six.

"You must pardon my indiscretion," resumed Mr. Cottrell; "but I really
supposed that Jim must have formally announced it. Ah, Beauchamp, the
very man! Spare one moment from your hospitable cares, and receive the
congratulations of Miss Bloxam and myself upon the perfection of your
arrangements. Everything is admirable; and if ever people deserved the
favour of a gorgeous day, you and your companions have done so."

"To have won the approbation of such an expert as Mr.