'What a splendid type of dog you have here, Miss Wellwood--all muscle and sinew--half bull, half fox terrier,' said Colville, in a pause of the conversation, patting Jack, who was nestling close to Mary's skirt, for the captain deemed rightly that her dog was a safe thing to enlarge upon. 'He is indeed a pet--the dearest of dogs,' she replied, tickling Jack's ears, and getting a lick of his red tongue in return. 'Are you not afraid of him?' asked Sir Redmond, a little nervously. 'Afraid of Jack--I should think not!' replied Mary, laughing. But somehow Jack seemed to have an antipathy for the baronet, and growled and showed his molar tusks very unmistakably each time that personage focussed him with his eyeglass. The cabinet portrait of an old officer, in uniform with epaulettes and one or two medals, seemed to attract the interest of Leslie Colville. 'That is papa,' said Mary, in an explanatory tone. 'Ah, he was in the service, then,' said the captain, smiling. 'So am I--in the Scots Guards.' 'The Scots Guards! Then perhaps you know our cousin, Captain Wellwood.' 'Of course I know him intimately,' he replied, with some hesitation, while colouring deeply. Mary thought there was something strange in his manner, as he spoke in a low and indistinct voice, heard by herself alone, so she pursued the, to her, rather distasteful subject no further, but the captain added, 'A lucky dog--he has succeeded lately to a pot of money--quite a fortune, in fact.' 'Lucky indeed,' assented Sir Redmond. 'By Jove, there is nothing like money for enabling one to enjoy life. Don't you think so, doctor?' 'No,' replied the minister, shaking his white head, 'I agree with my worthy ancestor, who remarks, in the third volume of his _Analecta_, that "wealth is apt to abate the godly habits of a people." Of course, Sir Redmond, you have read Wodrow's _Analecta_.' 'Sorry to say, my dear sir, that I never heard of it.' 'Indeed. It was the labour of twenty-seven years. Thus, you may see that he was unlike Hué, the learned Bishop of Avranches, who used to say that all human learning could be comprised in one volume folio.' Sir Redmond felt himself somewhat at a loss here, and ignoring the minister, whom he deemed 'an old parish pump,' he turned again to Ellinor Wellwood, some of whose framed landscapes drew attention to her merits as an amateur artist, and led to the production of a portfolio of her sketches, over which the baronet hung, as well as over herself, in real or well-simulated admiration. The latter could scarcely be, as Ellinor had so many personal attractions, her long lashes imparted such softness to her dark hazel eyes, and the contour of her head and neck seemed so graceful and ladylike as Sir Redmond stooped over her, and complimented her artistic efforts.