“Merry, forsooth!  He was never known to laugh.  There is a report that he once condescended to smile, but it was at chess.  As for fighting, he wouldn’t fight a dog that bit him.  He is too patriotic to deprive his country of his own abilities.  No, Dick; I really do not see any quarrel ahead, unless you make it.”

“I shall think of my Kate when I am passionate, and so keep the peace.”

“‘I shall think of my Kate.’  Grant me patience with all young husbands.  They ought to remain in seclusion until the wedding-fever is over.  By the Lord Harry!  If Jack Capel had spoken of me in such fashion, I would have given him the best of reasons for running some pretty fellow through the heart.  Hush!  Here comes Arabella, and I am anxious you should make a figure in her eyes.”

Arabella came in very quietly, but she seemed to take possession of the room as she entered it.  She had a bright, piquant face, a tall, graceful form, and that air of high fashion which is perhaps quite as captivating.

She was “delighted to meet cousin Dick.  Oh, indeed, you have been the town talk!” she said, with an air of attention very flattering.  “Such a passionate encounter was never heard of.  The clubs were engaged with it for a week.  I was told that Lord Paget and Sir Henry Dutton came near fighting it over themselves.  Was it really about a bow of orange ribbon?  And did you wear it over your heart?  And did the Scotchman cut it off with his sword?  And did you run him through the next moment?  There were the most extraordinary accounts of the affair, and of the little girl with the unpronounceable Dutch name who”—­

“Who is now my wife, Lady Suffolk.”

“Certainly, we heard of that also.  How romantic!  The secret marriage, the midnight elopement, and the man-of-war waiting down the river with a broadside ready for any boat that attempted to stop you.”

“Oh, my lady, that is the completest nonsense!”

“Say ‘cousin Arabella,’ if you please.  Has not grandmother told you that I, not the Dutch girl, ought to have been your wife?  It was all arranged years ago, sir.  You have disappointed grandmother; as for me, I have consoled myself with Sir Thomas.”

“Yes, indeed,” said Lady Capel; “though Dick was entirely out of the secret of the match, my son Will and I had agreed upon it.  I don’t know what Will thinks of a younger son like Dick choosing for himself.”

Then Arabella made Hyde a pretty, mocking courtesy, and he could not help looking with some interest at the woman who might have been his wife.  The best of men, and the best of husbands, are liable to speculate a little under such circumstances, and in fancy to put themselves into a position they have probably no wish in reality to fill.  She noticed his air of consideration; and, with a toss of her handsome head, she spread out all her finery.  “You see,” she said, “I am dressed so as to make a tearing show.”  She wore a white poudesoy gown, embroidered with gold, and the prettiest high-heeled satin slippers, and a head-dress of wonderful workmanship.  “For I have been at a concert of music, cousin Dick, and heard two overtures of Mr. Handel’s and a sonata by Corella, done by the very best hands.”