Mr. and Mrs. Sparkler. 155 



clare she has got a scarlet coat and a velvet cap on, and 

 she is smo — king a — cig — ar just like — a — man ! Oh-h-h ! 

 my dear/' faintly murmured Mrs. Gapeseed, giving a 

 shudder and a wriggle, as if someone had poured some 

 cold water down her back ; '' for mercy's sake tell the 

 coachman to drive home at once ! This is no place for 

 us:' 



Mrs. Gapeseed's eyes, or rather I should say her 

 glasses, did not deceive her. Little Mrs. Sparkler, when 

 she cantered gaily up to the meet, wore — as the former 

 estimable person very truly observed— a scarlet habit, a 

 velvet cap, and was smoking a cigar with great apparent 

 satisfaction to herself. More than that, she was, as all the 

 men present declared, an uncommonly pretty little woman. 

 And so she was, if a bright face, a retrousse pert little nose, 

 a pair of laughing blue eyes (that had, though, a habit of 

 looking anyone uncommonly straight in the face on occa- 

 sion), a row of very pearly teeth, and a luxurious crop of 

 glorious chesnut curls, go for anything. Her husband, 

 too, — Doddy, as she called him, and whom she evidently 

 worshipped — was one ofth ose cheery-looking, '' happy- 

 go-lucky " sort of young men, of whom his fellow-men 

 would be pretty sure at first sight to say, *' He looks 

 a good sort." And they would have been quite correct 

 in their surmise. Reckless and extravagant to a degree, 

 he might be, and no doubt was, but there was no harm 

 in " Doddy " Sparkler, you might take your oath. Only 

 one person at the meet knew him, and that was our 

 friend Charles Wildoats, who arrived late, as usual, and 

 shook hands cordially with the new arrival. His cor- 

 dial '' How are you, Doddy ? " was heard all along 

 the line, you may depend, and '' It's all right if he's a 



