"Amy," said Mabel, "there is Captain Clair beckoning for you to run to him, and I dare say he will get you the blackberries he promised you." Amy ran away to the garden-gate, where Captain Clair was waiting for her, and hand in hand they were soon down the blackberry lane that led to the fields. "What a very fine young man," exclaimed Lucy, as she watched them out of sight; "do you see him often--I suppose he is a beau of yours?" "No, oh, no," said Mabel; "a sort of friend he has made himself--but certainly not a beau." "Ah, you say so." "And I mean so," said Mabel. "You mean then, that he is free for conquest," laughed Lucy, coquettishly. "As far as I am concerned, he is as free as air," said Mabel; "but I would not have you attempt such a conquest, I should think he was too easily won to be kept long in subjection." "Ah, I know what you mean," said Lucy; "a sort of man that falls in love with every tolerable girl he meets--the very thing for a country visit." "Well, I suppose neither party would be in much danger if those are your real sentiments," said Mabel. "Captain Clair is too discerning to be entangled by a mock feeling, and you are wise enough to think of nothing more." "Exactly so," replied Lucy; "but oh, whose pretty house is that amongst the trees?" "Colonel Hargrave's," said Mabel. "Colonel Hargrave!" cried Lucy, "cousin Henry, as we call him now. Do you know, Mabel, he is just come back to England, and mamma wrote to ask him to come and see us in Bath. I am so longing to meet him; and we have made up in our minds, already, a match between him and Caroline--that you know would do very well, for she is just thirty, and he must be a few years older, must he not?" "Yes, I think so," said Mabel. "And that would be a very nice difference, you know. I am quite longing for him to come. I have talked the match over with Selina so often, that I cannot help looking upon it as quite certain; and then we should have such a nice house to come and stay at; and you would be so delightfully near--would it not be pleasant?" "You will find it cold without your bonnet," said Mabel, evasively, "shall we go in and fetch it." "No, thank you," said Lucy; "but I see you are not fond of match-making." "No, I confess I am not," said Mabel; "but I suppose you hear a great deal of it in Bath, where so many matches must be talked over." "Oh! an immense deal--it is quite amusing to hear of so many projected marriages, and of their coming to nothing after all." "But that is why I think match-making anything but amusing," said Mabel.