'Captain Hammersley will do that better than I,' said Shafto, drawing almost sulkily away, while the former resumed his place by Finella, with an unmistakable smile rippling over his face. This song, which, it would seem, Hammersley had given her, was an old one, long since forgotten, named the 'Trysting Place,' and jealous anger gathered in Shafto's heart as he listened and heard Hammersley's voice blend with Finella's in the last line of each verse: 'We met not in the sylvan scene Where lovers wish to meet, Where skies are bright and woods are green, And bursting blossoms sweet; But in the city's busy din, Where Mammon holds his reign, Sweet intercourse we sought to win 'Mid fashion, guile, and gain; Above us was a murky sky, Around a crowded space, Yet dear, my love, to thee and me, Was this, our _trysting place_.' 'They are who say Love only dwells 'Mid sunshine, light, and flowers; Alike to him are gloomy cells Or gay and smiling bowers; Love works not on insensate things His sweet and magic art; No outward shrine arrests his wings, His home is in the heart; And dearest hearts like _thine_ and _mine_, With rapture must retrace-- How often Love has deigned to shine On this our _trysting place_.' 'Miss Melfort, you have sung it more sweetly than ever!' said Hammersley in a low voice as he bent over her. 'Confound him!' muttered Shafto to himself; 'where was this trysting place? I feel inclined to put a charge of shot into him to-morrow. I will, too, if the day is foggy!' Finella, though pressed, declined to sing more, as the Misses Kippilaw, who were rather irrepressible young ladies, now proposed a carpet-dance, and she drew on her gloves; and while she fumbled away, almost nervously, with the buttoning of one, she knew that Hammersley's eyes were lovingly and admiringly bent on her, till he came to the rescue, and did the buttoning required; and to Shafto it seemed the process was a very protracted one, and was a pretty little connivance, as in reality it was. Miss Prim, Lady Fettercairn's companion, was summoned, and she--poor creature--had to furnish music for the occasion, till at last Finella good-naturedly relieved her.