conquest of Mr. Scully, and encouraging glances were exchanged between
them until Lady Sarah looked inquiringly round the table--then she
pushed back her chair. All rose, and a moment after, through the
twilight of the drawing-room, colour and nudity were scattered in
picturesque confusion.

Every mind was occupied by one thought--how the pleasure of the
dinner-party had been spoiled by that horrible Land League discussion.
All wondered who had introduced the subject, and the blame was fixed
upon Mr. Adair. Mrs. Gould, in her homely way, came to the point at
once:

'People say he is so clever, but I am sure I can't see it. He has spent
a fortune in building farmyards in concrete, and his saw-mill, I hear,
costs him twenty pounds a month dead loss, and he is always writing
letters to the papers. I never can think much of a man who writes to the
papers.'

'A most superior man,' said Lady Sarah, who, notwithstanding her
thirty-five years, had not entirely given up hope. 'He took honours at
Trinity.'

Then Mr. Burke and Lord Kilcarney were spoken of, and some new anecdotes
were told of Mr. Ryan. The famous one--how he had asked a lady to show
him her docket at the Galway ball, when she told him that she was
engaged for all the dances--excited, as it never failed to do, a good
deal of laughter. Mrs. Barton did not, however, join in the
conversation. She knew, if she did, that the Ladies Cullen would be as
rude as the absence of Milord, and the fact that she was a guest in
their house would allow them to be. Mrs. Barton's mind was now occupied