My friends Temple and Heriot were among the Riversley guests at Christmas.  We rode over to John Thresher’s, of whom we heard that the pretty Mabel Sweetwinter had disappeared, and understood that suspicion had fallen upon one of us gentlemen.  Bob, her brother, had gone the way of the bravest English fellows of his class-to America.  We called on the miller, a soured old man.  Bob’s evasion affected him more than Mabel’s, Martha Thresher said, in derision of our sex.  I was pained to hear from her that Bob supposed me the misleader of his sister; and that he had, as she believed, left England, to avoid the misery of ever meeting me again, because he liked me so much.  She had been seen walking down the lanes with some one resembling me in figure.  Heriot took the miller’s view, counting the loss of one stout young Englishman to his country of far greater importance than the escapades of dozens of girls, for which simple creatures he had no compassion:  he held the expression of it a sham.  He had grown coxcombical.  Without talking of his conquests, he talked largely of the ladies who were possibly in the situation of victims to his grace of person, though he did not do so with any unctuous boasting.  On the contrary, there was a rather taking undertone of regret that his enfeebled over-fat country would give her military son no worthier occupation.  He laughed at the mention of Julia Bulsted’s name.  ’She proves, Richie, marriage is the best of all receipts for women, just as it’s the worst for men.  Poor Billy Bulsted, for instance, a first-rate seaman, and his heart’s only half in his profession since he and Julia swore their oath; and no wonder,—­he made something his own that won’t go under lock and key.  No military or naval man ought ever to marry.’

‘Stop,’ said Temple, ’is the poor old country—­How about continuing the race of heroes?’

Heriot commended him to rectories, vicarages, and curates’ lodgings for breeding grounds, and coming round to Julia related one of the racy dialogues of her married life.  ’The saltwater widow’s delicious.  Billy rushes home from his ship in a hurry.  What’s this Greg writes me?—­That he ‘s got a friend of his to drink with him, d’ ye mean, William?—­A friend of yours, ma’am.—­And will you say a friend of mine is not a friend of yours, William?—­Julia, you’re driving me mad!—­And is that far from crazy, where you said I drove you at first sight of me, William?  Back to his ship goes Billy with a song of love and constancy.’

I said nothing of my chagrin at the behaviour of the pair who had furnished my first idea of the romantic beauty of love.

‘Why does she talk twice as Irish as she used to, Heriot?’

’Just to coax the world to let her be as nonsensical as she likes.  She’s awfully dull; she has only her nonsense to amuse her.  I repeat:  soldiers and sailors oughtn’t to marry.  I’m her best friend.  I am, on my honour:  for I ’m going to make Billy give up the service, since he can’t give her up.  There she is!’ he cried out, and waved his hat to a lady on horseback some way down the slope of a road leading to the view of our heathland: