to add to his sorrow.

About an hour before dinner there was a knock at his door, and the
earl himself, when summoned, made his appearance in the room. He was
dressed in his usual farming attire, having been caught by Lady Julia
on his first approach to the house, and had come away direct to his
young friend, after having been duly trained in what he ought to say
by his kind-hearted sister. I am not, however, prepared to declare
that he strictly followed his sister's teaching in all that he said
upon the occasion.

"Well, my boy," he began, "so the young lady has been perverse."

"Yes, my lord. That is, I don't know about being perverse. It is all
over."

"That's as may be, Johnny. As far as I know, not half of them accept
their lovers the first time of asking."

"I shall not ask her again."

"Oh, yes, you will. You don't mean to say you are angry with her for
refusing you."

"Not in the least. I have no right to be angry. I am only angry with
myself for being such a fool, Lord De Guest. I wish I had been dead
before I came down here on this errand. Now I think of it, I know
there are so many things which ought to have made me sure how it
would be."

"I don't see that at all. You come down again,--let me see,--it's May
now. Say you come when the shooting begins in September. If we can't
get you leave of absence in any other way, we'll make old Buffle come
too. Only, by George, I believe he'd shoot us all. But never mind;
we'll manage that. You keep up your spirits till September, and then
we'll fight the battle in another way. The squire shall get up a
little party for the bride, and my lady Lily must go then. You shall
meet her so; and then we'll shoot over the squire's land. We'll bring
you together so; you see if we don't. Lord bless me! Refused once! My
belief is, that in these days a girl thinks nothing of a man till she
has refused him half-a-dozen times."

"I don't think Lily is at all like that."

"Look here, Johnny. I have not a word to say against Miss Lily. I
like her very much, and think her one of the nicest girls I know.
When she's your wife, I'll love her dearly, if she'll let me. But
she's made of the same stuff as other girls, and will act in the same
way. Things have gone a little astray among you, and they won't right
themselves all in a minute. She knows now what your feelings are, and
she'll go on thinking of it, till at last you'll be in her thoughts
more than that other fellow. Don't