140 THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



might not have been regarded by a common observer, but 

 which attracted the eye of Lady Charlotte, and also of his 

 ci-devant tutor, who happened to be seated by her side. 

 There did not appear to be that gaiety in his demeanour, 

 that earnest admiration of his partner, young and elegant 

 as she was, that he had exhibited whilst standing opposite 

 to Mrs. Denham for that was the young matron's name ; 

 neither was he seen approaching her, as in the other case, 

 for the purpose of exchanging words, or we might perhaps 

 say, thoughts. All this, however, would have been passed 

 over, but for some after-occurrences which had less chance 

 of escaping the notice of his lynx-eyed observers for such 

 are all mothers, if not all tutors, over young persons of 

 both sexes at a ball. 



In the dance previous to entering the supper-room, our 

 hero was again seen leading out Mrs. Denham, and 

 afterwards appeared seated by her at the supper-table. 

 Neither did his attentions stop here. When her carriage 

 was ordered, it was he who handed her into it, and that 

 of his own family being the next in the rank of those 

 about to depart, he entered it with these words on his lips : 



" Well, Lady Charlotte (to his mother), I daresay you 

 will be glad to get home, for you have had a fatiguing 

 day of it. But, Emma (to his sister), was it not a 

 delightful ball ? Is not that Mrs. Denham a beautiful 

 creature ? I am so glad Sir John introduced me to her." 



"She is," replied Lady Charlotte, " and " laying some 

 emphasis on the first epithet "as good as she is beautiful.'' 



" What a spoon you must be," continued Frank, to his 

 elder brother, " to dance with those two ugly sisters, and 

 that Miss Johnson, who is old enough to have been your 

 mother, when there were so many pretty women in the 

 room. For my own part, I think dancing, unless with 

 a pretty woman for a partner, one of the greatest of all 

 bores. In fact, pretty women and good suppers are, with 

 me, the only inducement to go to balls." 



" Some of your Christchurch notions," said Lady 

 Charlotte, "or else those of your friend Sir John. But I 

 know no one fonder of a ball than he is, and you always 

 see him dancing away as if " 



" Yes," resumed our hero ; " but always with a pretty 

 woman. I have heard him say, he dislikes an ugly 

 woman in a ballroom as much as he would an ugly 

 leader in his coach. He swears he never vet saw one who 



