Dearest Mamma,—­I was so afraid of being late for breakfast this morning that I was down quite ten minutes too soon, and when I got into the breakfast-room I found Charlie alone, mixing himself a brandy cocktail.  He wanted to kiss me, because he said we were cousins, but I did not like the smell of the brandy, so I would not let him.  He made me promise that I would come out with him after breakfast, before they started to shoot, to look at his horses; then we heard some one coming, and he whisked the cocktail glass out of sight in the neatest way possible.  At breakfast he just nibbled a bit of toast, and drank a glass of milk, and Lady Carriston kept saying to him, “My dear, dear boy, you have no appetite,” and he said, “No, having to read so hard as he did at night took it away.”

The Duke seemed a little annoyed that there was not a particular chutney in his curried kidneys, which I thought very rude in another person’s house; and, as it was Friday, the Reverend Mr. Trench refused every dish in a loud voice, and then helped himself to a whole sole at the side-table.

The food was lovely.  Miss Garnons did not eat a thing, and Lady Garnons was not down nor, of course, the old Earl.

After breakfast we meandered into the hall.  Smoking is not allowed anywhere except in the billiard-room, which is down yards and yards of passages, so as not to let the smell get into the house.  We seemed to be standing about doing nothing, so I said I would go up and get my boots on, or probably there would not be time to go with Charlie to see his horses before they started.

You should have seen the family’s three faces!  Charlie’s silly jaw dropped, Adeline’s eyebrows ran up to her hair almost, while Lady Carriston said in an icy voice:  “We had not thought of visiting the stables so early.”

Did you ever hear of anything so ridiculous, Mamma?  Just as though I had said something improper!  I was furious with Charlie, he had not even the pluck to say he had asked me to go; but I paid him out.  I just said, “I concluded you had consulted Lady Carriston before asking me to go with you, or naturally I should not have suggested going to get ready.”  He did look a stupid thing, and bolted at once; but Lady Carriston saw I was not going to be snubbed, so she became more polite, and presently asked me to come and see the aviary with her.

[Sidenote:  The Slip of Paper]

As we walked down the armour gallery she met a servant with a telegram, and while she stopped to read it I looked out of one of the windows.  The wall is so thick they are all in recesses, and Charlie passed underneath, his head just level with the open part.  The moment he saw me he fished out a scrap of paper from his pocket and pressed it into my hand, and said, “Don’t be a mug this time,” and was gone before I could do anything.  I did not know what to do with the paper, so I had to slip it up my sleeve, as with these skirts one hasn’t a pocket, and I did feel so mad at having done a thing in that underhand way.