Belles and Ringers

nd strawberries are at their best; when the lamb is verging towards muttony, and the whitebait are growi

e been made here both for life and for centuries-as, in the "shibboleth" of our day, a hundred pounds is sometimes termed! Much damage at times has no doubt accrued both to the hearts of humanity and the legs of the polo ponies. The coaches gather thick about their allotted end of the grassy paddock; drag after drag drops quietly into its position; the teams are unharnessed and led slowly away; and their passengers either elect to view the forthcom

t Captain Bloxam the life and soul of the Hussar side, and were they not all there ready to sympathize or applaud? Applause at Hurlingham, by the way, being in as little accord with the traditions of the place as it is in the stalls of a fashionable theatre. The match has not

Cottrell, after lifting his hat in a comprehensive manner to the whole part

meaning in his speeches. Could this be a covert allusion to her mishap at Todborough? Had the story of her fall come to his ears, and was he about to indulge his love of teasing people at her expense?

ot playing. If he were, I should consult you as to which side

just one of those wicked little remarks to which Pansey Cottrell treated his

to know that Lionel could run, it does not follow that she knows whether he can play polo.

to-day; and whatever the rest of us are called upon to endure, Mrs. Wriothesley, I know, can a

trell good service in the early part of his career; but now

t that my poor little kitchenmaid is not

her after the play, but took good care that the menu should be of very different calibre. She, like Pansey Cottrell, was the fashion, and he knew it. Besides, not only was t

some fatality misses the ball. Another second, and Jim Bloxam has sent it flying towards the Monmouthshire goal, and is pelting along in hot pursuit, only to see the ball come whizzing back past him from a steady drive by one of the adversary's back-players. Backwards and forwards flies the ball, and the clever little ponies, at the guidance of their riders, bustle now this way, now that, in chase of it. Over and over again it is driven close to the fatal posts at either end-the being driven between which scores the first goal of the game-only to be sent again in the reverse direction by the back-player. Then comes a regular scrimmage in the centre of the ground, and the ball is dribbled amongst the ponies' legs, first a little this way, and then that, but never more than a few yards

oy somebody." The Doctor was probably right, being a pretty good judge of that sort of thing. There are many unmeaning remarks made, the why of which it

estined always to pla

he is just b

btained victories. He was just defeated at Rockcliffe after a gallant struggle. I have seen s

arp glance at Mrs. Wriothesley, to see what that lady thought of the spirited manner in which her niece stood up for the vanquished Hu

he continued, in mocking tones, "prepared to condole with his family over Jim's defeat; but I must comfort

to-day on the side of the Hussars; and my champi

ernoon. I reverence you as a young lady who wagers with infinite dis

light movement of the young lady's chair in his favour, found that he

e a favour, Miss Bl

Beauchamp, if I

day fortnight; but we mean to go down the river instead of up. We intend chartering a

will say yes if we ha

I have one to ask of y

u did-most cert

erently; you must say 'certai

e pledge oneself to that. It is not

want you to say 'certainly' wi

probable that you should ask me, but it is possible that you might wish me, to do something that I was bound to say 'no' to. I

replied Blanche; "you can do it if

edly, a virtue sadly wanting in many of us. His reservation had been put in mechanically in the first instance, but Blanche's persistence made him now resolute not to commit himself to an unlimited promise. Excep

st as well as Lionel did that she was insisting on the exorbitant. "Still," she argued, "

said at length, "wha

ase ma

these solitaires for saving her bracelet at Rockcliffe; are they not pretty ones

hat is not quite all: what is th

mission was in reality the mildest of mysteries; but he sa

tell you,"

I ask

ave promised not to mention it. You, of c

y from Lionel more or less in a huff-it must be remembered that she was very much in earnest in her love affair, that she was jealous of Sylla Chipchase, and that though she believed Lionel Beauchamp loved her, he had not as yet declared himself. She had foolishly, and perhaps whimsically, regarded this as a test question, and she had been answered in the negative. I do not know that she was out-of-the-way foolish. Maidens like

y shoots the ball, and skims along at an ominous pace in the direction of the goal of the scarlet and white. Jim Bloxam, slipping all the other players by a couple of lengths, leads the pursuit, with two of his antagonists riding their hardest to catch him. Jim makes the most of his opportunity, and it looks like a goal for the Hussars. He is riding a smartish pony, and feels that his followers will never catch him. He is bound to get first to the ball, and, if only he does not miss his stroke, should drive it clean through the goal-posts. But though he is so far right that he keeps his lead of his antagonists, there is another player to be taken into calculation, whom so far Jim has quite overlooked, and this is the crafty back-player of the scarlet and white men who is in charge of the goal. He is quite as alive as

eauchamp. "Don't be alarmed, Miss Bloxam: falls are not often s

terror at witnessing a fall that people not so accustomed are apt to experience. But there were other lookers-on with whom it was very different. It was a bad accident to look upon; and Mrs. Wriothesley suddenly felt her wrist gripped with a force that could hardly be supposed existent in the delicat

," she faltered at

about to faint, and was filled with dismay at the prospect of finding her niece the centre of a scene. "Men don't get

nd the antagonist with whom he had come in collision had neither of them as yet done so. By this time all the players were collect

ed to you if you would run down and see what is the matter. For Heaven's sake, Sylla," she whispered into her niece's ear, "don't mak

the rails and ran down to the group. He found Jim resting his head upon his hand, lyi

ny use, you know; that confounded cannon has not only knocked all the wind out of me, but knocked me half

pronounced him only stunned by the fall and a good deal shaken, it was decided to draw a man from

the game at present; he will be all right again in a couple of hours. See, there he is, walking away to the dressing-rooms at the other side, along with his antagonist, who is in a similar case. It was an awkward collision

r to feel any great anxiety at seeing Jim fall. She would have told you quietly that "Jim knew how to fall." But she was filled with exceeding bitterness about one thing,-that her secret love-test had resulted in failure, and that her heart was, to a considerable extent, out of her possession before it had been asked for. No, her difference with L

lieve you knew yourself before. When accidents happen in the plural, and young ladies remark upon them only in the singular number, it is a sign of absorbing inter