"Well, I do. There!" he said, sadly. " But
it will always be this old story; and I shall be
always the same fool."

She smiled brightly, and shook her finger at
him. " Though I say these things, you know
how I like you here;" laying her hand on her
heart.

He repeated, in the same sad tone, half
smiling, " I suppose I shall be the same,
always—the same to the end of the chapter."

"The same what?" said she, smiling. "But
I know what you mean perfectly."

This was but a common pattern of what
very often took place between the gentleman
and his young lady. Her mamma deplored their
"sparring," and privately remonstrated with
her daughter about her warm temper.

"Oh, mamma!" she would reply, " it makes
us like each other all the better." She
unconsciously uttered a truth. It was all nature in
her, not pettishness nor vixenishness. She spoke
out her mind, and could no more help speaking
than she could help her eyes flashing.

CHAPTER IV. BROTHER AND SISTER.

WHEN Mr. Dacres had embraced his lady
with great affection, and hurried away to the
Royal, trolling a merry stave, he left gloomy
faces behind him. Their last little stake had
been played, and failed.

"I had a presentiment it would turn out
this way," said Mr. West. " However, it
can't be helped; we must make the best of it."

"What is to become of us?" said Lucy,
helplessly. "Though poor papa cannot help
himself, don't let us make a fuss to him about it."

"I have no patience with him," said Mr.
West, slowly; "and I own I am sadly
disappointed. Of course I have no right to say
anything here, or to say so much." And he looked
at Lucy; but. she seemed determined to treat
it lightly; perhaps she was rejoiced to see her
father back.

"And why couldn't he stay? The first
moment he arrived to go off with a gentleman he
picks up on a steamer!"

"But, Gilbert," said his sister, impatiently,
"what on earth has it to do with you?"

Miss Lucy was a little abstracted, and did
not hear this speech.

"That gentleman with him!" she said, raising
her eyes thoughtfully; " what a handsome man
he was!"

"I knew you were coming to that," said Mr.
West, sarcastically. " The notion has been
dancing before your brain ever since, and now
it comes out. I saw it all the time."

"One of the handsomest men I ever saw," she
went on, with enthusiasm; "like an Italian
tenor."

Mr. West laughed in the same bitter way, and
said:

"You saw the Italian—Farini—that came
down from Paris to give a concert—a fellow with
chalky cheeks—well, he was an Italian tenor!"

She turned to him with colour mounting in
her cheeks:

"You are out of humour to-night; what is the
matter? Pray, why should I not remark a
handsome face without being brought to
account for it? Why do you lecture me, Mr.
West, about tenors? You will not find me
inclined to sacrifice my independence, or be
obsequious to you, as some of the others are, on any
terms. I give you fair warning, Mr. West."

"Oh, Lulu!" said her quiet mamma, quite
shocked at this burst.

"I don't care, mamma," said the young girl,
walking to and fro excitedly. " I am not going
to submit to any influence or lecturing. I may
be a poor weak girl, and his a strong powerful
mind, and all that"—here she curtseyed ironically
—" but I give him fair notice I shall keep
my freedom."

He turned away impatiently to the window.
This was another "sparring" match, common
enough between them.

Miss West said to her, bitterly:

"How sharp Miss Lucy Dacres is! Not so
poor  or so weak, after all, I suspect."

Before Lucy could answer, Mr. Dacres had
entered the room, but quite changed—older,
because "put out."

"There's a polite Englishman for you!
We're nothing but boors, after all, I believe. He
comes down to me at the Royal with a story—
headache and feverish throbbing—exhausted—
must go to bed. I don't believe a word of it.
Then he says, 'Of course you'll dine here?' just
the same, confound him, as though I were a
servant! I wonder he didn't add, ' They'll take
care of you in the servants' hall!'"

"Poor papa!" said she, going up to pat
his head. " He was sick, recollect."

"Oh, be off, now! I'm tired, too, after my
journey. When's your dinner to be ready? I
suppose I must wait hours, and then get a bit
of tough leather! Travelling hard and fast, and
a bit of last night, and then, looking forward
to a snug comfortable evening, to be served in
that way!"

Who would think this to be the " delightful
gay creature," all affection, and good humour,
and heart! Mr. West was looking at him with
unconcealed contempt and dislike.

"We must go now," he said. " Come,
Margaret. It is unfortunate you should have
come back to us with such a disappointment;
but——"

"What d'ye mean by that, Mr. West?" said
the other, with a lowering brow. "It's my
own affair, wholly and solely; no man else's
money was embarked in it; and I can set off
after fifty Trotters, fifty times, if I like. Do
ye know, West, I think at times you're devilish
free, and——"

"Hush!" said that gentleman, quietly.
"This, of course, is Dieppe, where we have all a
pleasant license in language allowed us. I
was speaking of the dinner disappointment; but
it's no matter."

"No more it is, my holy St. Frances de Sales
——my good man suffering. Ha! ha! All I say
is, let every man let me alone, and I'll let him