me, " of all our own servants, Charles " (that
was the footman) "is the only one upon whom
we can depend. The rest know absolutely
nothing out of their own departments; and
they are so stupid, that I am afraid it would
be useless to attempt to instruct them for this
occasion."

"I should have thought otherwise," said
the cousin, with a look which, after much
consideration and with considerable
reluctance, I am obliged to pronounce malicious,
"the gardener seems to be a quick intelligent
young man, who would adapt himself to
circumstances; and John, who is now driving
us, I have often thought more fit for domestic
duties than driving. He is neither old enough
nor heavy enough to be quite proper for a
coachman."

There was a dead pause. Neither of the
cousins spoke during the remainder of the
drive. The elder lady maintained a look of
portentous severity; while, in the younger, I
thought I observed several times a tendency
to laugh.

At dinner that day Mrs. de Musherewin's
temper was not much improved by an incident
which would have escaped my notice,
but for the evident annoyance which it
occasioned her. Old De Musherewin, whom I
have already mentioned as a good-humoured,
unpretending country gentleman, made an
observation to Charles (who was, as usual, in
attendance) about the state of the kitchen-
garden, which he had been inspecting during
our absence in the morning; and consulted
him as to the propriety of planting some
mangel-wurzel for the cows on " that piece of
waste ground in the corner."

"I wonder," said Mrs. de Musherewin, with
a severe look at her husband, " that you do
not talk of these subjects in the proper
quarter. What can Charles know of them?
It is the gardener's business."

De Musherewin looked confused, as if he
had made a " confounded mull "—to use an
expression of his own—about something; and
drank off a glass of sherry, rather nervously.
His wife subsided into her established air of
severity; the young lady was suddenly seized
with a fit of coughing; Charles did not seem
quite at his ease; and I was the only
unembarrassed person present. I had been once
before somewhat amused at the old gentleman
asking the coachman " If he thought that old
port had been put in a damp part of the
cellar?" But Mrs. de Musherewin, not being
present at that time—to give prominency to
the remark by going into hysterics, or making
any demonstration of the kind—I had thought
no more of the occurrence.

Meantime the affair of the lady's maid
became more mysterious. A few days after our
visit to theTwaddletons, I went out with old De
Musherewin to have a pop at some pheasants.
He began to talk about " his preserves." I
had never known that he indulged in any such
luxury; and to this day I am convinced, from
my experience on that occasion, that the game
could not have been very plentiful, otherwise
we must have succeeded in finding something
to hit. But my object in mentioning our day's
sport, was to state that we were accompanied
by " the gamekeeper," whom I had never
before seen or heard of. In appearance, he was
a most unexceptionable person—got up with
velveteen and fustian, game-pouches, guns,
and powder-belts, in a most orthodox manner.

In the course of our march over the stubble,
De Musherewin (who is always affable to his
dependants) good-naturedly rallied the
gamekeeper upon the fact that he was going
to be married very speedily. The
gamekeeper grinned, and admitted the soft
impeachment; his master promised to "do what
he could for him towards setting him up"
and so the matter dropped. But it so
happened that, shortly afterwards, I was walking
on in advance with my host, when I happened
to ask him who was to be the bride of our
friend the gamekeeper?

"Oh! " was the answer, " he considers that
he's making a good thing of it. Good-looking,
you know, and all that; she is the personal
and confidential servant of the wife of old
Sir Sykes Slimpenny, our next-door neighbour,
I may say; for our respective parks
only divide the two mansions." (So the De
Musherewin lawn, and surrounding meadows,
was a park!)

"Are you sure?" I asked, dubiously.

"Certain: the wedding-clothes have, as I have
been told, been purchased".

Mystery upon mystery! Was this desirable
young person going to marry the whole
neighbourhood? I was fairly puzzled and
perplexed.

That day at dinner De Musherewin made
a casual remark, relative to the approaching
marriage of the gamekeeper; to which Mrs.
de Musherewin observed, that " she was not
aware that the event was to take place for
several weeks."

"He told me it was to come off in a few
days," said De Musherewin. " He leaves
my service, you know, in less than a week,
having engaged himself in another part of
the country."

There was another awkward pause, such as
I had before noticed. Mrs. de Musherewin
was visibly agitated; and the remainder of
the dining ceremonial passed off in perfect
silence. The next morning, early, I received
a message from the master of the house, who
desired to see me in the library. I found
him alone with his fishing-tackle, a parchment
deed, a pheasant (from the poulterer's),
and an attorney. He opened his business very
abruptly. He had taken my request into
consideration, and was prepared to make the
concession that I required. Not a word of his
former very excellent reasons for refusing. It
was evident that in the teeth of all his previous
opinions, he had suddenly come to the conclusion
that it was very proper that young men