"They are old friends of my people, you know; and the old gentleman's been very civil to me."
"Ah! and the young lady hasn't been rude, has she?--at least I judged not, from 'what I saw. She rides deuced well; but what a long time she takes to mount! and when you had swung her to the saddle, I noticed that her reins took an immense deal of arranging!"
"Don't be an idiot, George! you're always fancying things."
"And you're always fancying girls, and my life's passed in keeping you out of scrapes."
"By the way, do you ever see any thing of--"
"Of the other? Ah, base deceiver! fickle as the wind, or the what's his name! Yes, I've met poor Kitty once or twice, and, without any nonsense, she looked thoroughly seedy and worn."
"Poor dear Kitty, I'm so sorry! I--"
"Oh, yes, we know all about it; 'he loves and he rides away,' and all the rest of it. But, joking apart, Master Jim, it's a very good thing that business is over. I was really 'afraid at one time you were going to grief. But--hollo! for me?" These last words thrown off at a tangent to a messenger who entered the room with a letter.
"No, sir; for Mr. Prescott."
"Ah! I don't like letters generally; but that's not a blue one, and looks tolerably healthy. What's it about, James?"