Of Cecil Falconer's mood of mind and views of the whole situation at this time, we can be best informed by a letter which he despatched to his friend and chum, Leslie Fotheringhame, on the day subsequent to the little riding expedition:
'Eaglescraig, Cunninghame.
'MY DEAR LESLIE,
'Hannibal has found his Capua! After our limited cuisine at Dumbarton, it seems to me that—so far as luxury is concerned—daily Lucullus dines with Apicius; by which preamble you will think, old fellow, that I have gone out of my mind, or betaken me to cramming again, as we did at Sandhurst. I am freely quartered in a magnificent house, with delightful society, and an old host, the general, who is hospitality's own self, and possesses a well-filled stable and a rare cellar—not that I care for it much—but any way, in its binns are some curious old Madeira that has been thrice round the Cape, white and red Constantia, Tokay with tints of gold, Chateau-Yquem, and Malmsey in which maudlin Clarence might have been drowned.
'We have had some excellent cover shooting, and, though the birds were a little wild, a good many brace fell to my bag. Nothing is stiff or formal here, though the old gentleman has some stately, eccentric, and rather extravagant notions about family, pedigree, blood, and all that sort of thing, and laments much the loss of a son who was once one of "Ours." There are two charming girls here, and after one's bachelor and barrack experiences, it is delightful to meet them each day at breakfast, with their fresh morning costumes and complexions; and charming, too, is the morning-room—quite like that described in "Coningsby": "Such a profusion of flowers; such a multitude of books; such a prodigality of writing materials; so many easychairs too, of so many shapes, each in itself a comfortable home; yet nothing crowded." And then the girls! Don't you envy me, old fellow! But I have no doubt they will have you over here when I—alas!—leave, for the old double Dun in the Clyde.
'There is one blot in my picture—a member of the family circle, named Hew Caddish Montgomerie, to whom I am obliged to do the civil, the general's heir—whom I simply detest and view in the light of a noxious reptile, why or how I cannot precisely say; but we have our likings and dislikings in this world, our attractions and repulsions, and certes, this fellow repels me!
'He is jowly in face, with full, red lips, heavy, stealthy, and shifty eyes, set close to his nose, and he inherits rather reddish hair and freckles from the family who gave him his middle name, which, curiously enough, is Caddish; and in spite, jealousy, or by a blunder, he nearly potted me one day in the covers!
'I think he already views me as a species of rival; he is a sort of cousin of Miss Montgomerie (would that I were so! but I am only one of those poor devils who exist in the world on sufferance), and whether they are engaged or not I cannot tell. He has half led me to infer as much, and assumes a disgusting air of proprietary and so forth, which certainly is not endorsed by Miss Montgomerie.'
(Falconer had written 'by Mary,' but had dashed through the Christian name, which had escaped his pen, and Fotheringhame remarked this.)
'Anyhow, I was cognisant of a rather tender scene between them in the avenue on the day I arrived here. He is deuced sharp at cards, and I have already lost to him much more than I can afford to lose.