"You have chosen a delightful mode of seeing the country this lovely summer weather, Mr. Chillingly. I believe such pedestrian exercises are very common with university students during the long vacation."
"Very common, though they generally wander in packs like wild dogs or Australian dingoes. It is only a tame dog that one finds on the road travelling by himself; and then, unless he behaves very quietly, it is ten to one that he is stoned as a mad dog."
"But I am afraid, from what I hear, that you have not been travelling very quietly."
"You are quite right, Miss Travers, and I am a sad dog if not a mad one. But pardon me: we are nearing the marquee; the band is striking up, and, alas! I am not a dancing dog."
He released Cecilia's arm, and bowed.
"Let us sit here a while, then," said she, motioning to a garden-bench. "I have no engagement for the next dance, and, as I am a little tired, I shall be glad of a reprieve."
Kenelm sighed, and, with the air of a martyr stretching himself on the rack, took his place beside the fairest girl in the county.
"You were at college with Mr. Belvoir?"
"I was."
"He was thought clever there?"