gay loungers on the terrace. Occasionally the eyes of the whole party
would rest with admiration and pride on the scene enacting before them,
and well they might, for on the smooth, soft, velvet-like sward of the
croquet lawn, eight youthful figures, the eldest scarcely sixteen, were
engaged in that most exhilarating, delightful and exciting of all out
door amusements, the game of croquet.

The Lady Eglentine Carlton, eldest daughter of the Countess of
Castlemere, a tall, graceful girl, inheriting all her mother's soft
beauty of form and features, stood with her small, exquisitely shaped
foot resting on a bright, blue ball, evidently listening to some
suggestion of her partner, Clarence Ashburnham, preparatory to giving
the final stroke that would croquet her adversary's ball to a
considerable distance. Not far off stood, in an easy position, the
Earl's handsome son and heir, Lord Adolphus Carlton, mallet in hand,
explaining to pretty Alice Denham, the rector's daughter, what effect on
the game his sister's stroke would have if correctly given. Kate Barton,
the little golden-haired fairy, as she was called generally, is
chatting merrily with the Honourable Eustace Carlton, a noble,
aristocratic looking youth, with chestnut curls and the bright, flashing
eyes of the Earl, his father, declaring with great animation that their
side must win, while Maud Ashburnham, the physician's dark-haired
daughter, a sparkling brunette, full of life and vivacity, announces to
her partner, Alfred Arthur Denham, that her next stroke shall carry her
through the last hoop, this will make her a rover, and she will then
come to his assistance; and thus the game progressed, first in favor of
one side and then the other, till at length a splendid stroke from the
youthful Lady Eglentine's mallet, put her own and her partner's ball
through the last wire arch, placing them in a triumphant position,
amidst shouts of applause from their own side.