yes, there is; but it may not come off. Mamma hates the Huishes.”
“You’re a character, Dick!” said the officer laughingly. “There, I’m going to make you dissipated to get you square, so light your cigar, my lad; I won’t bully you any more,” he continued, smiling good-humouredly, “and you may shave till your beard comes if you like, and wax your—your eyebrows—I mean moustache, and dandify yourself a little, for I like to see you smart; but an you love me, as the poet says, no more of that confounded lisp. Now then, you’ve been reconnoitring, have you, and spying out the barrenness of the land?”
“Yes, and it’s a horrible one-eyed sort of a place. Why don’t you come and have a look?”
“I shall presently. Seen the Palace?”
“I had a walk round and went into the gardens, which are all very well—old-fashioned, you know; but the private apartments are full of old maids.”
“Ah, yes; maiden ladies and widows. Sort of aristocratic union, I’ve heard. Good thing for you, Dick.”
“Why?” said the lad, who had again perched himself on the edge of the table and was complacently glancing at his boots.
“Because your inflammable young heart will not be set on fire by antique virgins and blushing widows of sixty.”
“I don’t know so much about that,” cried the lad excitedly, taking off his natty little foraging cap. “Marcus, dear boy, I was walking round a cloister sort of place with a fountain in the middle, and then through a blank square court, and I saw three of the loveliest women, at one of the windows, I ever saw in my life.”
“Distance lends enchantment to the view, my dear boy. If you had gone closer you would have seen the wrinkles and the silvery hairs, if they had not been dyed.”
“I tell you they weren’t old,” continued Dick, whose eyes sparkled like those of a girl.
“I’m not a marrying man, for reasons best known to my banker and my creditors.”
“Two of them were dark and the other was fair,” continued the lad, revelling in his description. “Oh, those two dark girls! You never saw such eyes, such hair, such lovely complexions. Juno-like—that they were. I was quite struck.”
“Foolish?”
“No, no; the Lelys in one of the rooms are nothing to them.”
“Lilies?”
“Nonsense—Lelys: the pictures, Court beauties. I could only stand and gaze at them.”
“Young buck—at gaze,” said the other, smiling at the boy’s enthusiasm. “What was the fair one like?”
“Oh, sweet and Madonnaesque—pensive and gentle. Look here, Marcus, you and I will have a walk round there presently.”
“Not if my name’s Marcus,” said the other, laughing. “Go along, you silly young butterfly, scenting honey in every flower. I say, Dick, shall you go in full review order?”
“I wish you weren’t so fond of chaffing a fellow.”
“Did the maidens—old, or young, or doubtful—at the window see our handsome young Adonis with his clustering curls?”
“Hang me if I ever tell you anything again!” cried the lad pettishly. “Where do you keep your matches? You are always chaffing.”
“Not I,” said the other, turning himself lazily in his chair, “only I want to see you grow into a matter-of-fact man.”
“Is it a sign of manhood to grow into a Diogenes sort of fellow, who sneers at every woman he sees?” said the lad hotly.
“No, Dick, but it’s a sign of hobble-de-hoyishness to be falling in love with pretty housemaids and boarding-school girls.”
“Which I don’t do,” said the lad fiercely.
“Except when you are forming desperate attachments to well-developed ladies, who, after your stupid young heart has been pretty well frizzled in the imaginary fire cast by their eyes, turn out to be other men’s wives.”
“I declare you are unbearable, Glen,” cried the lad hotly.
“My dear Dick, you are the most refreshing little chap I ever knew,” said the other, rising. “There, put on your cap, my boy, and let’s go;” and leaving the direction of their course to his younger companion, Captain Glen found himself at last on the broad walk facing the old red-brick Palace.
“I wonder you have never seen it before.”
“So do I; but I never did. Well, old Dutch William had a very good idea of taking care of himself, that’s all I can say.”
“But come along here; some of the interior is very curious, especially the quadrangles.”
“So I should suppose,” said Glen drily. “But I have a fancy for examining some of these quaint old parterres and carven trees, so we’ll turn down here.”
Richard Millet’s countenance twitched, but he said nothing; and together they strolled about the grounds, the elder pointing out the pretty effects to be seen here and there, the younger seeing nothing but the faces of three ladies standing at a window, and longing to be back in that cloister-like square to gaze upon them again.
“This place will be dull,” said Glen, as he seated himself upon a bench at the edge of a long spread of velvet turf; “but better than dingy Hounslow, and I’ve come to the conclusion that we might be much worse off. The society may turn out pretty decent, after all. This old garden will be splendid for a stroll. And—look there, Dick, the inhabitant of the land is fair. Here is another chance for you to fall in love.”
“What, with one of those old—Oh, I say, look, look! I did not see them at first. Those are the very girls.”
For Richard Millet’s face had been turned in the other direction, and when he first spoke he had only caught sight of the Honourable Misses Dymcox, walking side by side for their morning walk, closely followed by their three nieces, to make up for a close confinement to the house for three days, consequent upon the coming of the fresh troops to the barracks; the military being a necessary evil in the eyes of these elderly ladies, and such dreadful people that they were to be avoided upon all occasions.
“Oh, those are the damsels, are they?” said Glen, watching the little party as they walked straight on along a broad gravel path. “The old ladies look as if they were marching a squad of an Amazonian brigade to relieve guard somewhere. My word: how formal and precise! Now, I’ll be bound to say, my lad, that you would like to see where they are posted, and go and commit a breach of discipline by talking to the pretty sentries.”
“I should,” cried Dick eagerly. “Did you notice them?”
“Well, I must own that they are nice-looking, young inflammable, certainly.”
“But that first one, with the dark hair and eyes—she just glanced towards me—isn’t she lovely?”
“Well,
