''Pon honour! here's a good thing, which I hope we shall live to finish,' said Heathcock, sitting down before the collation; and heartily did he eat of grouse pie, and of Irish ortolans, which, as Lady Dashfort observed, 'afforded him indemnity for the past, and security for the future.'
'Eh! re'lly now! your Irish ortolans are famous good eating,' said Heathcock.
'Worth being quartered in Ireland, faith! to taste 'em,' said Benson.
The count recommended to Lady Dashfort some of 'that delicate sweetmeat, the Irish plum.'
'Bless me, sir—count!' cried Williamson, 'it's by far the best thing of the kind I ever tasted in all my life: where could you get this?'
'In Dublin, at my dear Mrs. Godey's; where ONLY, in his Majesty's dominions, it is to be had,' said the count. The whole dish vanished in a few seconds. ''Pon honour! I do believe this is the thing the queen's so fond of,' said Heathcock.
Then heartily did he drink of the count's excellent Hungarian wines; and, by the common bond of sympathy between those who have no other tastes but eating and drinking, the colonel, the major, and the captain were now all the best companions possible for one another.
Whilst 'they prolonged the rich repast,' Lady Dashfort and Lord Colambre went to the window to admire the prospect; Lady Dashfort asked the count the name of some distant hill.
'Ah!' said the count, 'that hill was once covered with fine wood; but it was all cut down two years ago.'
'Who could have been so cruel?' said her ladyship.