5 o CONVERSATIONAL HINTS 



fire, which are by no means the least pleasant and 



comforting incident in the day's programme. You 



have dressed for dinner in good time ; you have 



tied your white tie successfully ' in once ' ; you 



have taken in a charming girl (Eose Larking, let 



us say) to dinner. The dinner itself has been 



good, the drawing-room interlude after dinner has 



been pleasantly varied with music, and the ladies 



have, with the tact for which they are sometimes 



distinguished, retired early to bed-rooms, where it 



is believed they spend hours in the combing of 



their beautiful hair, and the interchange of gossip. 



You are in high spirits. You think, indeed you 



are sure (and again, on thinking it well over, not 



quite so sure), that the adorable Eose looked 



kindly upon you as she said good-night, and 



allowed her pretty little hand to linger in your own 



while you assured her that to-morrow you would 



get for her the pinion-feather of a woodcock, or die 



in the attempt. You are now arrayed in your 



smoking-coat (the black with the red silk facings), 



and your velvet slippers with your initials worked 



in gold a birthday present from your sister. All 



the rest are, each after his own fashion, similarly 



attired, and the whole male party is gathered 



