MISS GRIMSHAWS 5 POINTS 147 



" You met Mr French in Dublin, I suppose? " 

 said the girl. 



" Yes, I met him in DubHn. Funny, wasn't 

 it? We were staying at the same hotel, and I was 

 coming down here, and he invited me to stay with 

 him." 



He stood with his back to the fire, warming him- 

 self and glancing about the comfortable room, 

 and there was something in his manner that Miss 

 Grimshaw could not quite make out, an almost 

 imperceptible stiffness, a want of " spring." It 

 was as though he were on his guard. 



" Was it raining in Dubhn? " 



" Yes, most of the time. And I suppose you've 

 been having it pretty bad here? " 



"Awful!" 



She was dying to ask him why he had come over 

 from England at this season of the year — why he 

 had come down here. Who can tell but, in her 

 heart, she knew the reason perfectly, and, knowing 

 it, felt perplexed with his strange manner and 

 stiffness? 



They talked on indifferent matters — Effie and 

 so forth — till French came in. He had inter- 

 viewed Moriarty, and he was full of the business 

 of the horses; and, strange to say, with the 

 entrance of French Mr Dashwood's manner com- 

 pletely changed. His stiffness vanished, and he 

 became his old, irresponsible, joyous seK again. 



"Think of it! The blackguards!" said Mr 

 French, as he carved the round of beef, " coming 



