She stood up very good-humouredly, however, and replied to all her partner's vapid remarks, very readily; yet, somehow, Tuckett, junior, though he was "the glass of fashion and the mould of form," to Hammond-court, Mincing-lane, did not feel at his ease with her; and she, in the innocence of her heart, believing that all firms dwelt in the city, and never dreaming that a man could be so silly as to blush because he was a worker instead of an idler, put him to torture by her unconscious questions. "I am anxious to explore the city," she said, while the side couples were dancing _La Poule_. "I suppose you know all its charming nooks by heart." "Aw, no, indeed, it's a place I have too great a distaste for, to stay in, except when obliged." "For shame," said Kate, "A citizen of 'famous London Town,' ought to know, and prize the various interesting 'locales' in the mighty capital." "Shall I get you an ice?" said her partner, sullenly. "No, no, thank you," replied Kate, shaking her head rather mournfully, as she remembered the last time a similar question had been put to her; and taking her seat near the Colonel, who was standing with Langley and Galliard; she dismissed Tuckett, junior, with a gracious inclination of the head. Soon after, the Colonel complaining of fatigue, and Kate, glad to escape her good-humoured host's frequently expressed wish that she would 'polkar,' took her leave of the _soirée_. Langley and Galliard attended them to the carriage, which awaited them. "Mr. Langley tells me he saw our friend Egerton's name, in some paper, promoted to a majority," said the Colonel. "Did he! oh, where?" cried Kate. "It was in the Gazette, I took it up while waiting for Lord H-- --, whose portrait I am painting." "What did it say?" asked Kate, folding her shawl round her. "Oh,--'The Honourable Frederic Egerton to be Major in the Lancers, without purchase, vice,' some one, I forget the name, 'deceased.'" "I dare say it cost him some hard cash, though it is there stated 'without purchase;' I understand all that. Come, Kate. Good night, Mr. Langley. _Bon soir, monsieur, au plaisir de vous voir_," said the Colonel. The Frenchman bowed profoundly, and they drove away. The Colonel was not animated after this piece of gaiety, as he used to be in former days; it seemed to have depressed him, and he complained of slight cold. Mrs. O'Toole was woefully disappointed to find that there was "ne'er a lord, nor even an honourable, good or bad, at the party." "To think iv yer playin' an' singin' for the likes iv thim!" she exclaimed, indignantly. "What have I said to make you think so contemptuously of the very respectable people, amongst whom we have spent (I confess) 'a rather slow evening,' as my eloquent partner would term it?" "Och no matther, sure it's thim that's the only quolity goin' now; well, niver mind, Miss Kate, we'll lave thim all yet." "I hope so," sighed Kate. CHAPTER VII. LETTERS.