3 THE MASTER OF THE HOUNDS. 



of the other beauties, threatening to kick Dick out of the 

 room. 



" 'Harkee, Markham .' ' said Dick; ; thar you can't do — so 

 don't try that game; but as breakfast is hali over, and we have 

 ten miles to covert, I wiJl give you twenty minutes to dress 

 and finish your breakfast, and not a minute beyond that time 

 will I wait.' The Captain, relieved of his difficulties, soou 

 made his appearance down stairs ; and here he comes, with his 

 well-curled locks and white scented handkerchief in hand, as if 

 he were entering a ball-room. Confound the fellow ! say I, 

 and all such nondescripts ; begad, if a fox smelt half as strong 

 as he does, hounds would never be off the line. There, now he 

 is in his element, making fine speeches about nothing to Con- 

 stance. How charming — how bewitching she looks in her 

 riding costume ! a perfect Diana ! and all that sort of trash : 

 but there is one comfort, Will, Con has too much good sense to 

 be taken now with such confounded flummery. A year ago 

 she thought differently, until I took the liberty of opening her 

 eyes a little to the Captain's true character \ but, saving his 

 epaulettes, and being heir-expectant to a baronetcy, Vernon is 

 a much more dangerous man with young girls than the life- 

 guardsman, for both are playing the same game. Dick is a 

 devilish handsome fellow, with lots of small talk and soft sawder, 

 and such winning, flattering ways with women, that, by Jove ! 

 Will, he is a dangerous fellow, and not to be sneezed at ! " 



" Perhaps not, Bob ; but what is he to me ? Constance, I 

 know, views him in his proper light, and has known him now 

 too many years to fall in love with him ; moreover, her pen- 

 chant lies in another direction." 



"It was not of Constance I was then thinking," replied 

 Bob, " but of another young pet of mine, Blanche Douglas." 



" Well, Bob, and what of her % " 



" Only that Markham and Vernon, both being hard up for 

 cash, are laying pretty close siege to the heiress already ; and 

 she is so young, artless, and warm-hearted, that I am terribly 

 afraid — and it keeps me awake some nights in thinking — that 

 Vernon bids fair to win the prize, if a certain shy, diffident 

 young fellow, called Will Beauchamp, does not come to the 

 rescue." 



" Pshaw, Bob ! you know I am not a ladies' man, and, like 

 yourself, will never marry any girl for her money. Besides, I 

 should be obliged to plead my cause in a parody on the words 

 of the 'Pirate's Serenade' — 



