Under the Red Dragon

adoc had said, a very comp

d; and perhaps she secretly felt this, as she lingered pensively for a moment by the marble fountain that stood before Craigaderyn Court, and played with her white fingers in the water, causing the gold and silver fish to dart madly to and fro. Above its basin a group of green bronze tritons were spouting, great Nile lilies floate

I walked by her side, touching her hand from time to time, or taking it fairly in mine as of old, and occasionally enforcing what I said by a pressure of her soft arm within mine, while I talked to her, saying heaven knows what, but most ungratefully wishing all the time that she were Estelle Cressingham. All was soft and peaceful around us. The woods of Craigaderyn, glowing in the heat of the August afternoon, were hushed and still, all save the hum of insects, or if they stirred it was when the soft west wind seemed to pass through them with a languid sig

ir little hammers, and singing in a language known to themselves only. Then we tarried by the heaped-up cairn that marked some long-forgotten strife; and then by the Maen Hir, a long boulder, under which some fabled giant lay; and next a great rocking stone, amid a field of beans, which we found Farmer Rhuddlan--a sturdy specimen of a Welsh Celt, high cheek-boned and sharp-eyed--contemplating with great satisfaction. High above the sea of green st

ong hand to the spheroidal mass, and after one or two impulses it swayed most perceptibly. Then begging me not to forget his son, who was with our Fusileers far away at Varna, he respectfully uncov

hastily; "if, indeed, one may pretend to value or to think of such things in these

try

it died w

eauty exists," said I, smilin

to Winifred. I seemed to be mingling one woman's presence with that of another. I regarded Winifred as

e idea of beauty," said

it exists chiefly, perhaps

othing exactly

, laughing, as I cau

a toad what is beauty, the supremely beautiful, and he will answer you, it is his female, with two round eyes projecting out of its little head, a broad flat neck, a yellow breast, and dark-brown back.' Even red hai

ning that I was thinking of another, not of her, "for there is a thread in our thoughts even as there is a pulse in our hearts, and

ally if she is one of rank; yet the heart may be won by one her inferior. Talking of beauty, Lad

m?" I asked, while

d," replied Winifred, pressin

ed--imp

ll never, never forgive him; though he was already

rish girl,

with a short little si

le Cressingham must a

nd Lady Naseby has only a life-rent of the jointure house in Hants--Walcot Park, a

of tin, I suppos

ak so much of Estelle, to say unpleasant things; "and the favoured parti at prese

sixty if he is a day!

view? Money and position are preferab

e yourself and Lady Estelle t

girl; and I beg to assure you, that it was somewhat perilous work with one like Winifred Lloyd; a girl who had the sweetest voice, the most brilliant

ne in the song of Montrose,"

r I haven'

--and love

ccording to a more obscure authority in such matters, P

r lip curled

aits, manner, and beauty which lure u

she said, "I think all this the most abominable sophistry, Mr. Har

I was Harry a

hat you think of your future Welsh comrade; his beard may be to the r

ing on his hind legs--a trick she had taught him--or playfully butting her skirts with his horns, regarding me somewhat dubiously and suspiciously the while with his great hazel eyes. He was truly a splendid specimen of the old Carnarvonshire breed of goats, which once ran wild over the mountains there, and were either hunted by dogs or shot with the bullet so lately as Pennant's time

ture--a noble fellow!" I excla

s old. I obtained h

he Fusileers should

llyn, marching proudly at their head, and decked with chaplets on St.

, Win

y--and of me, perhaps," she added, with a

ich she was caressing the goat's head, and which in whiteness rivalled the hue of his glossy coat; an

--and papa-

me, and, as the deuce would have it, I k

pace or two, grew very pale, a

done that, Harry--I

ing wild and pit

what to say; for "people often do say v

Carneydd Llewellyn no more," said she, stooping

d--Miss Lloyd

aid she, her eyes f

u make! I have often

er a boy; nor am I a

Madoc," I entreated. "Not now--afte

tel

Caradoc, and Lady Estelle with Guilfoyle a little way behind them, on horseback

had been more than flirting with Winifred Lloyd--on the eve of becoming too tender, perhaps--I felt a pang of jealousy on se

he se

half-affectionate impulse which led me to kiss my beautiful companion and playfellow of the past year

fancy--a curl on her red lip, as she reined-in her spirited horse sharply with one firm hand, and care

influence was felt by all. Her perfect ease of manner seemed cold--very cold, indeed, when compared to the thoughts that burned in my own breast at that moment--dread that I might have been trifling with Winifred Lloyd, for whom I cherished a sincere and tender friendship; intense annoyance lest my friend Caradoc, who really loved her, might resent the affair; and, more than all, that she for whom I would freely have perilled limb and life might also resent,

ight and pretty never carry a