Belles and Ringers | Page 3

taste for country life; just the man to suit dear Blanche
admirably."
"And when do you expect him?"
"Oh, he ought to be here this evening in time for dinner," replied Lady
Mary. "He seemed rather struck with Blanche in London, so I asked
him down here for the Easter holidays, thinking it a nice opportunity of
throwing them more together."
"I see," replied Mr. Cottrell, laughing; "you think in these cases it is
just as well to assist nature by a little judicious forcing."
"Exactly. You see, a good-looking girl has such a pull in a country
house, and when she is the only good-looking one, has it all her own
way; and I need scarcely say I have taken care of that."
"Ahem! Todborough lies dangerously near to that most popular of
watering-places, Commonstone," observed Cottrell; "and there is
always attractive mettle to be found there."
"But I don't intend we shall ever go near it," replied her ladyship
quickly. "We'll make up riding parties, plan excursions to Trotbury, and
so on. Just the people in the house, you know, and the rector's

daughters, nice pleasant unaffected girls, who, though not plain----"
"Cannot be counted dangerous," interposed Cottrell. "I understand. I
congratulate you on your diplomacy, Lady Mary. By the way, who is
your rector?"
"The Rev. Austin Chipchase. A good orthodox old-fashioned parson,
thank goodness, with no High Church fads or Low Church
proclivities."
"Chipchase? Ahem! I met an uncommon pretty girl of that name down
in Suffolk last autumn, when I was staying at Hogden's place."
At this juncture the door opened, and the object of all this maternal
solicitude entered the room. Her mother did Blanche Bloxam scant
justice when she called her a good-looking girl. She was more than that;
she might most certainly have been called a very good-looking girl of
the thoroughly Saxon type--tall and well made, with a profusion of fair
sunny hair, and deep blue eyes. Blanche was a girl no man would ever
overlook, wherever he might come across her.
"What state secrets are you two talking," she exclaimed, "that you pay
no attention to the bell? Come to lunch, mamma, please; for we have
been playing lawn tennis all the morning, and are well-nigh distraught
with hunger."
Lady Mary rose and followed her daughter to the dining-room, where
the whole of the house party were assembled round the luncheon-table.
It consisted, besides the family and Mr. Cottrell, of a Mr. and Mrs.
Evesham and their two daughters--"such amiable girls, you know," as
Lady Mary always said of them; a Mr. and Mrs. Sartoris, a young
married couple; Jim Bloxam, the dragoon; and a Captain Braybrooke, a
brother officer of his.
"Come along, mother," exclaimed Jim. "Mrs. Sartoris has given me
such a dusting at lawn tennis this morning that no amount of brown
sherry and pigeon-pie will support me under the ignominy of my
defeat."

"Thank you, Mrs. Sartoris," said Lady Mary, laughing. "I am very glad
indeed, Jim, that somebody has been good enough to take the conceit
out of you. But what do all you good people propose doing with
yourselves this afternoon? There are a certain number of riding-horses;
and of course there's the carriage, Mrs. Evesham."
"Don't you trouble, mother," exclaimed Jim Bloxam; "we are going
upon an expedition of discovery. Mrs. Sartoris has got a brother in the
army. She don't quite recollect his regiment; and beyond that it is in
England, she does not know precisely where he is quartered. But he is
in the something-somethieth, and we are going to see if we can find
him in Rockcliffe Camp."
"Don't be so absurd, Captain Bloxam," rejoined Mrs. Sartoris. "But I
am told, Lady Mary, it is a pretty walk to the camp, and that there is a
grand view over the Channel on the south side of it."
"It is the very thing, mamma," observed Blanche. "It is our duty to
absorb as much ozone as possible while we are down here, in order to
fit us for the fatigues of the season which, I trust, are in store for us."
"Getting perilously near Commonstone," whispered Pansey Cottrell,
who happened to be sitting next to his hostess.
Although the arrangement did not exactly meet with her approbation,
yet Lady Mary could make no objection, any more than she could
avoid smiling at Cottrell's remark; but it would seem as if some
malignant genie had devoted his whole attention to thwarting her
schemes, the malignant genie in this case taking the form of her eldest
son. Upon an adjournment, Jim Bloxam strongly urged that those of the
party who were not for a tramp to Rockcliffe should drive into
Commonstone, and ascertain if there was anything going on that was
likely to be worth