th greater credit. It
was with considerable secret concern that he found himself placed at
the opposite end of the table from his friend, but his tongue rattled as
gaily and his smiles came as readily as ever. With Mrs. Cameron-Campbell
on one side, and a minister's lady upon the other, his host two places
distant, and a considerable audience of silent eaters within earshot,
he successfully managed to divert the attention of quite half the table
from the chieftain's moody humor.

"I always feel at home with a Scotsman," he discoursed genially.
"His imagination is so quick, his intellect so clear, his honesty so
remarkable, and" (with an irresistible glance at the minister's lady)
"his wife so charming."

"Ha, ha!" laughed Mr. Gallosh, who was mellowing rapidly under the
influence of his own champagne. "I'm verra glad to see you know good
folks when you meet them. What do you think now of the English?"

Having previously assured himself that his audience was neat Scotch, the
polished Austrian unblushingly replied--

"The Englishman, I have observed, has a slightly slower imagination, a
denser intelligence, and is less conspicuous for perfect honesty. His
womankind also have less of that nameless grace and ethereal beauty
which distinguish their Scottish sisters."

It is needless to say that a more popular visitor never was seen than
this discriminating foreigner, and if his ambitions had not risen above
a merely personal triumph, he would have been in the highest state of
satisfaction. But with a disinterested eye he every now and then
sought the farther end of the table, where, between his hostess and her
charming eldest daughter, and facing his factor, the Baron had to endure
his ordeal unsupported.

"I wonder how the devil he's getting on!" he more than once said to
himself.

For better or for worse, as the dinner advanced, he began to hear the
Court accent more frequently, till his curiosity became extreme.

"His lordship seems in better spirits," remarked Mr. Gallosh.

"I hope to Heaven he may be!" was the fervent thought of Count Bunker.

At that moment the point was settled. With his old roar of exuberant
gusto the Baron announced, in a voice that drowned even the five
ministers--

"Ach, yes, I vill toss ze caber to-morrow! I vill toss him--so high!"
(his napkin flapped upwards). "How long shall he be? So tall as my
castle: Mees Gallosh, you shall help me? Ach, yes! Mit hands so fair ze
caber vill sp