THE HAUGHTYSHIRE HUNT. 207 



incontinently ceased from whistling that naughty little song 

 he had heard at the Folies-Bergere when he was last in the 

 gay capital, and substituted for it snatches of Mendelssohn's 

 'Wedding March.' Gravity noted all these signs, but with- 

 out manifesting such marks of disapproval as might have 

 been reasonably expected. 



One day the Duke ventured — rather by way of a ' feeler ' 

 — to say to his son and heir — 



"My dear boy, I rather wonder you don't entertain some 

 idea of — of — " (he was about to say " settling down," but 

 checked himself abruptly, and with a suppressed laugh, as he 

 thought of the absolute impossibility of Gravity's ever being 

 anything hut 'settled down') "of marrying. I often feel 

 rather surprised that instead of cultivating the acquaintance 

 of some nice young girl of a suitable age for you, you slwuld 

 always seek the society, by preference, of that excellent, but 



fat and elderly person, Mrs. Joggletilt. Now I " but here 



Gravity coughed uneasily and broke in with — 



" I don't care for young girls, my dear father. And Mrs. 

 Joggletilt I really find a most companionable woman, and a 

 gentle soul. She takes more interest in my mode of life than 

 young girls could possibly be expected to do, and I find in her 

 a most sympathetic friend." 



The Duke's effort had failed again. There was no moving 

 Gravity ; he was so unlike most young men in his rank of 

 life. 



"When I was his age," murmured the Duke, closing his 

 eyes rapturously and dropping his glass out — " By Jove! when 

 I was his age ! " and such beatific visions crossed the speaker's 

 mind that the supply of iDlain prosaic language incontinently 



