Page:Littell's Living Age - Volume 128.djvu/820

810 when the train of thought was presently interrupted by his overtaking young Peevor and his sisters in the avenue, returning from a row on the river, the young ladies looking bright and flushed with the exercise, and walking along with graceful carriage and light elastic step. The drilling-master, at any rate, if there had been one, was successful with his pupils.

When the rider came up with them there were of course inquiries from Miss Cathy and her brother about the run, while Lucy, shy and nervous, looked straight before her. But on Yorke's dismounting and walking by her side leading his horse, a few slight glances and gentle words sufficed to dispel the clouds which his manner of the morning had left behind; and soon the party, after partaking of the refreshments which Fred ordered to be served in the children's room, were engaged with Minnie and Lottie in a game of ninepins along the lobby outside, till Mr. Peevor, aroused from his nap, came up to see what all the noise and laughter was about, and stood watching the scene — Yorke still in his muddy boots, and the young ladies with their hats on, while Fred with his coat off was giving Lottie a ride on his shoulders — his pleasure at the spectacle only abated by a doubt lest the visitor should think the family deficient in knowledge of the usages of polite society.

When Yorke mentioned at dinner that he had met Captain Round out hunting, Mr. Peevor at once said that he hoped to see him to dinner soon. "Any friend of yours, colonel, will be welcome here, and Captain Round is a very agreeable person. We did not know he was in the neighbourhood, or we should have made a point of inviting him to meet you. Be sure, Charlotte, my love, that you write and ask the captain to dinner for an early day."

The evening of this day was the most lively that Yorke had yet spent at "The Beeches," for Fred had stipulated that no visitors should be asked to dinner, and cutting short his father's usual recommendations of the wine by observing that they were none of them drinking any, proposed an immediate adjournment to the drawing-room. Here Mr. Peevor asked for music as usual; and Miss Cathy, nothing loath, sat down and played her little piece: but Lucy, when her turn came, excused herself with a little blush and conscious glance at Yorke. And then Mrs. and Miss Peevor retiring early as usual, and Mr. Peevor declaring he was tired and would go to bed too — as he probably was, since he had been doing nothing all day — the rest adjourned to the billiard-room. An even match could now be arranged, for Fred played as well as Yorke, and the two young ladies equally badly, and to Yorke it fell to teach his partner Lucy how to hold her cue properly. Eight years had passed since such a duty had fallen to him, and how great the contrast between the two cases! Then — how well he remembered the day! — his hand trembled with awe and emotion as he ventured to touch that of Olivia, while she was unmoved and apparently all unconscious of the sensations which affected him so deeply. Now it was his turn to be calm and collected, while the lady was nervous and embarrassed. And, tickled as was his vanity while he noticed his evident power over Lucy, he wondered whether Olivia had in the same way enjoyed her power over him. And if so, was he going to play Lucy false in turn? This question must be seriously answered soon, before matters went much further. And yet was this confusion reality or pretence? Where was his power of fascination that a girl should fall in love with him at three days' sight? This was the sort of food for reflection furnished to Yorke by what passed during that evening, a long one as it turned out; for on their tiring of billiards, Fred declared it was absurd to think of going to bed at eleven o'clock. "There are no stables in the morning to make a fellow get up, and no chance of getting breakfast before ten; what say you, colonel, to teaching the girls whist, and then, Lucy, you will have at least one accomplishment to fall back upon when you are an old maid? "Her brother spoke in joke, but Lucy blushed as she laughed, for she felt that Yorke was looking at her.

 

 From Macmillan's Magazine.

a time when art and literature are daily taking a stronger hold on all classes of society, and are obtaining by degrees their proper recognition and position, it follows naturally that a steadily increasing interest is felt in the personal history of great artists and authors, and that people who delight in their works should wish also to know something of their lives, their habits, and modes of working. In