“You have heard, Jane, how our friend opened his campaign in Munich last night.”

“Oh, I hope, Mr. Lorrequer, they are only quizzing.  You surely could not—­”

“Could not.  What he could not—­what he would not do, is beyond my calculation to make out,” said Kilkee, laughing, “anything in life, from breaking an axletree to hoaxing a king;” I turned, as may be imagined, a deaf ear to this allusion, which really frightened me, not knowing how far Kilkee’s information might lead, nor how he might feel disposed to use it.  Lady Jane turned a half reproachful glance at me, as if rebuking my folly; but in the interest she thus took in me, I should not have bartered it for the smile of the proudest queen in Christendom.

Breakfast over, Lord Callonby undertook to explain to the Court the blunder, by which I had unwittingly been betrayed into personating the newly arrived minister, and as the mistake was more of their causing than my own, my excuses were accepted, and when his lordship returned to the hotel, he brought with him an invitation for me to dine at Court in my own unaccredited character.  By this time I had been carrying on the siege as briskly as circumstances permitted; Lady Callonby being deeply interested in her newly arrived purchases, and Lady Catherine being good-natured enough to pretend to be so also, left me, at intervals, many opportunities of speaking to Lady Jane.

As I feared that such occasions would not often present themselves, I determined on making the best use of my time, and at once led the conversation towards the goal I aimed at, by asking, “if Lady Jane had completely forgotten the wild cliffs and rocky coast of Clare, amid the tall mountains and glaciered peaks of the Tyrol?”

“Far from it,” she replied.  “I have a most clear remembrance of bold Mogher and the rolling swell of the blue Atlantic, and long to feel its spray once more upon my cheek; but then, I knew it in childhood—­your acquaintance with it was of a later date, and connected with fewer happy associations.”

“Fewer happy associations—­how can you say so?  Was it not there the brightest hours of my whole life were passed, was it not there I first met—­”

“Kilkee tells me,” said Lady Jane, interrupting me shortly, “that Miss Bingham is extremely pretty.”

This was turning my flank with a vengeance; so I muttered something about differences of tastes, &c. and continued, “I understand my worthy cousin Guy, had the good fortune to make your acquaintance in Paris.”

It was now her turn to blush, which she did deeply, and said nothing.

“He is expected, I believe, in a few days at Munich,” said I, fixing my eyes upon her, and endeavouring to read her thoughts; she blushed more deeply, and the blood at my own heart ran cold, as I thought over all I had heard, and I muttered to myself “she loves him.”

“Mr. Lorrequer, the carriage is waiting, and as we are going to the Gallery this morning, and have much to see, pray let us have your escort.”