"And when did you pick up the brogue and the blarney?"
"Oh, that was the easiest part of the matter! I can take off anything."
"You can?" rather startled.
"Yes, ever since I could speak; but I never attempted it in earnest till yesterday. Please take back your sovereign," holding it out.
"What am I to do with it? Fasten it to my watch-chain as a memento of the day my wife sold vegetables in the market square at Terryscreen?"
"If I were you, I would not talk of your wife before you have one," returned the young lady, blushing crimson. "I think you might give it in charity."
"So be it!" obediently placing it in his waistcoat pocket. "After all, I'm glad that you and the flower-seller were identical. I always thought you were the prettiest girl in the world and it gave me quite an unpleasant shock to see your counterpart."
(After this speech it was no longer in Helen's power to say that Mr. Lisle had never paid her a compliment.)
"And who have we here, coming down the hill with a brace of rabbits over his shoulders, and a gun under his arm?" he asked abruptly.
Helen glanced behind her, and beheld a man approaching with a black beard and peaked cap, and shrank closer to her companion instinctively, as she answered,—