_en route_ again, Bluebell transferred, _en pénitence_, to Colonel
Rolleston's sleigh, _vice_ the subaltern; and by this time nearly every
one was discontented and anxious to return.




CHAPTER VIII.

FIXING UP A PRANCE.

"'Tis over,
The valse, the quadrille, and the song,
The whispered farewell of the lover;
The heartless adieu of the throng,
The heart that was throbbing with pleasure;
The eyelid that longed for repose,
The beaux that were dreaming of treasure.
The girls that were dreaming of beaux."
--Edward Firzgerald.


Before they got to the Tremaines' house, Bertie drove up with Miss Lilla,
who was "quite dry now, thank you; not worth while bringing all the
sleighs up to the door." More than one curious observer noticed the
panting flanks of the horse, who scarcely looked as if he had been
resting in a stable. To be sure, the delinquents _had_ done that last
mile rather fast, to nick in and meet the party before they should make
inconvenient inquiries at Mr. Tremaine's,--Bertie, who was as good a
mimic as his mother, enhancing the fright of his fair companion by an