We must perforce be critics of these tear-away wits; which are, moreover, so threadbare to conceal the character!  Caroline led him to vaunt his riding and his shooting, and a certain time passed before she perceived that though he responded naturally to her first sly attacks, his gross exaggerations upon them had not been the triumph of absurdity she supposed herself to have evoked.

Her wish was to divert her uncle.  Patrick discerned the intention and aided her.

‘As for entertainment,’ he said, in answer to Mr. Adister’s courteous regrets that he would have to be a prisoner in the house until his legal adviser thought proper to appear, ’I’ll be perfectly happy if Miss Caroline will give me as much of her company as she can spare.  It ’s amusing to be shot at too, by a lady who ’s a good marksman!  And birds and hares are always willing to wait for us; they keep better alive.  I forgot to say that I can sing.’

‘Then I was in the presence of a connoisseur last night,’ said Caroline.  Mr. Adister consulted his watch and the mantelpiece clock for a minute of difference between them, remarking that he was a prisoner indeed, and for the whole day, unless Camminy should decide to come.  ’There is the library,’ he said, ’if you care for books; the best books on agriculture will be found there.  You can make your choice in the stables, if you would like to explore the country.  I am detained here by a man who seems to think my business of less importance than his pleasures.  And it is not my business; it is very much the reverse but I am compelled to undertake it as my own, when I abhor the business.  It is hard for me to speak of it, much more to act a part in it.’

‘Perhaps,’ Caroline interposed hurriedly, ’Mr. O’Donnell would not be unwilling to begin the day with some duets?’

Patrick eagerly put on his shame-face to accept her invitation, protesting that his boldness was entirely due to his delight in music.

‘But I’ve heard,’ said he, ’that the best fortification for the exercise of the a voice is hearty eating, so I ’ll pay court again to that game-pie.  I’m one with the pigs for truffles.’

His host thanked him for spreading the contagion of good appetite, and followed his example.  Robust habits and heartiness were signs with him of a conscience at peace, and he thought the Jesuits particularly forbearing in the amount of harm they had done to this young man.  So they were still at table when Mr. Camminy was announced and ushered in.

The man of law murmured an excuse or two; he knew his client’s eye, and how to thaw it.

‘No, Miss Adister, I have not breakfasted,’ he said, taking the chair placed for him.  ’I was all day yesterday at Windlemont, engaged in assisting to settle the succession.  Where estates are not entailed!’

’The expectations of the family are undisciplined and certain not to be satisfied,’ Mr. Adister carried on the broken sentence.  ’That house will fall!  However, you have lost no time this morning.—­Mr. Patrick O’Donnell.’