174 EACECOUESE AND COVERT SIDE. 



asked in a tone of mystification. — "You know 

 my brother, Tom Packenham, very well, I 

 believe— indeed, I thoiigbt I'd met yon myself at 

 Stockbridge. — What's the meaning of all this 

 lark about the oysters and the butterflies, and 

 the other fellow — Ca — what's his name ? Is it 

 a wily conundrum, or something out of ^liEsop's 

 fables, or what ? " 



I was silent, not at all understanding his 

 hilarity. 



" What's your little game ? " he continued. 



" I'm rather fond of chess," I answered, 

 thinking that he might not care for billiards, 

 about which some of the others were talking. 

 "Do you play ? " 



He gazed at me for a moment, and then 

 began a conversation with his neighbour on a 

 fresh subject, for I overheard casual sentences 

 about some one who was " awfully cropped at 

 the Warwick Meeting — poor devil ! seems quite 

 to have lost his head sometimes." 



I had learned during dinner that the Pro- 

 fessor was really expected, though I much 

 wondered what could induce him to join such a 

 party ; and as I was not interested in some 

 steeplechases which were to take place next day, 

 I seized the earliest opportunity of making my 

 way to the drawing-room. 



