M. or N. Similia similibus curantur.""

fine subject for the scalpel--good-humoured, generous, single-hearted, with faultless digestive powers, teeth, and colour to correspond, a st

ed by a sojourn on the Tweed, in which classical river he had improved many shining hours, wading waist-deep under a twenty-foot rod, any number of yards of line, and a fly of various hues, as gaudy,

ich rather impoverished her step-son), though arbitrary and unpleasant, was a woman of generous instincts, so offered Maud a home the moment she learned her niece's double bereavement; which home, for many reasons, heiress or no heiress, Miss Bruce felt constrained to accept. Thus it c

s mother's door, "but I should like to know who that bumptious-looking chap is, an

; nor was he to-day quite so talkative as usual. His mother thought him silent (he always called her "mother," and, to do her justice, she cou

manner. "Don't forget I hate bread-sauce, if you mean to come here often to luncheon; and do sa

t think that tea at the Tower heavy last week, nor the ghosts in the mess-room of the Blues. Lady Goldthred'

ned, and be sure, D

we sha'n't let him smoke, so he sulks beforehand, grim, grave, and silent as a gho

do anything of the kind. What have you been about, Maud, all the mo

do some shopping." But her dark eyes stole towards Dick, and, although his never met th

ward pause which succeeded Maud's mis-statement. "I think Puckers w

meant him to feel, that he had lost nothing in her good opinion

nswered the young lady; "and I think I shall go and put one on now that will mak

er her, as she left the room, with undisguised admiration in his honest face--with

ng so cool and fair in her fresh summer draperies, so thoroughly in keeping with the light and sparkle of everything around--the brilliant sunshi

at the coachman was driving very badly," I think she travelled in stately silence as far as Kew. Not so the other occupants of the barouche. Maud, desirous of forgetting much that was distasteful to her in the events of the morning, and indeed, in the course of her daily life, resolved to accept the tangible advantages of the present, nor scrupled to sho

e many puzzles that constitute the labyrinth of love. So long as he flutters unsinged about its flame, the moth is all the happier for the warmth of the candle, all the livelier for the inspiration of its rays. Dick Stanmore, turning into the Kensingt

arasol and arrange her shawls with such sweetness and good-humour, that Dick felt quite sorry to reach the Portugal laurels and trim lawns of their destination, when the drive was over from which he had derived this new and unforeseen grati

of mown grass which constitute the wilderness of a suburban villa, ere Dick felt conscious that his could be no monopoly of adoration. Free trade was at once declared by glances, whispers and inquiries from a succession of well-dressed young gentlemen, wise doubtl

the household troops, a bachelor baronet, and the richest young commoner of his year were presented by her host, at their own earnest request.

ghted with everybody; and being by no means sure of Dick's identity, dashed the more co

ttle place. But isn't it pretty now? And are we not lucky in the weather? And weren't you smothered in dust coming down? And you've brought the beauty

ce could have taken for anything but the "man of the house," was paying the utmost attention to Miss Bruce, bringing her tea, placing a camp-stool for her that she might

Dick vaguely, "and nobody's breakfasts a

n like to come here. The country air, you know, and the scenery, and plenty of pretty people. Now, there's Lord Bearwarden--look, he's talking to Miss Bruce, under the cedar--he's actually driven over from Windsor, and though he's a way of being so fine and blasé and all that, he don't look much bored at this moment, does he? Twenty thousa

vals throughout the afternoon, and Lady Goldthred's attention wandered to fresh arrivals, for who

e preferred as rivals; but thinking he detected signs of weariness on Maud's face (it had already come to this, that he studied her countenance, and winced

hter a cup of tea; so that by the time Dick reached her Lord Bearwarden had left Miss Bruce to the attentions of another guest, more smart than gentlemanlike, in whose

cks of beauty and mountains of muslin, could neither advance nor retreat. It wa

suppressed anger, rather than the tone of loving entreaty

I'm engaged to Lord Bearwarden--it's the Lan

his teeth and

to bid you dance with me. I have a right, if I chose, to order you down to the river there

eep her temper

ound at the bystanders. "Surely you can tr

ul pleading look at her late companion, which poor Dick Stan

to ascertain the name of the person who had so spoilt his afternoon. It helped him very little to be told the gentleman was "a Mr. Ryfe." Nobo

rought him,

ducive to the interchange of sentiment. If my memory serves me right, this complicated dance demands as close an attention as whist, and affords almost as few opportunities of communicating with a partner. Nevertheless, there is a language of the eyes, as of the lips; and it was not Lord Bearwarden's fault if his looks were misunderstood by their object. All this Dick saw, and seeing, grew more and more disgusted with life in general, with Lady Goldthred's breakfast

plechase he was grieved, annoyed, distressed. When he lost that eleven-pounder in the shallows below Melrose, because "Aundry," his Scottish henchman, was too drunk to keep his legs in a running stream, he was angry, vexed, disgusted; but ne

n London to dinner, make my bow, jump into a boat, and scull down to Chelsea. So I will. The scull will do me good, and if--if sh

to his hostess à bout portant, to interrupt her in an interesting conversation, by bidding her a solemn good-bye hours before anybody else has begun to move. Twenty minutes at least must have elapsed ere Dick found himself in a daint

ng set-to with "the gloves" bring a man to his senses more effectually than whole hours of quiescent reflection. Ere the perspiration stood on Dick Stanmore's brow, he suspected he had been hasty

calculating that if the fugitive pair should have done anything so improbable as to t

m for Maud, nay, he was fast returning to his allegiance, the allegiance of a day, thrown off in five minutes, when he sustained anoth

a curse, he knew for the first time, by the pain, how fondly he already loved this wild, heedless, heartless girl, who had come to live in his mother's house. Swinging steadily along in mid-stream, he must have been too far off, he thought, for her to recognise his features; yet why should she have taken refuge in the house with such haste, at an open window, through which a pair of legs clad in trousers denoted the presence of some male c

untouched. Those should expect rubbers who play at bowls; if people pull their own chestnuts out of the fire they must compound for burnt fingers; and when you

ntiment, no more sunshine, no more romance. He had dreamt his dream. Well for him it was so soon over. Semel insanivimus omnes. Fellows

erge that very day with her mysterious companion--gazing with plaintive interest on the bell-handle and door-scraper of his mother's house--vaguely pondering how he could ever bear to enter that house a

discharge itself of that lady and Maud, looking cool, fresh, and unrumpled as when they started. The revulsion of feeling was almost too much for Dick. By instinct, rather than with intention, he came forward to help them out, so confused in his ideas that he failed to remark how entirely hi

lking to try and lose. Poor thing! did it run all the way under the carriage with its tongue out? an

she had likened him, waiting for her there with a dry mouth and a beating heart while she went to "take off her thing

on the water th

e of them nice ones--I hate dancing on turf--and I had a warm-water ice and some jelly that tasted of bees'-wax. What became of you? We couldn't find you anywhere to get the carriage. However, I asked A

the latter, a sense of humiliation, had made wild work with his spirits, his temper, and indeed his appetite; yet twenty minutes in a dusky back drawing-room, a cup of weak tea and a slice of inferior bread-and-butter, were enough to restore self-respect, peace of mind, and vigour of dige