Falconer affected what he did not feel--but very far from it--an unusually free, easy, and careless manner; looked at the hunting pictures hung round the room, chatted on indifferent subjects, to lull the suspicions of Hew, and intent on verifying his own, in which he found a very unexpected assistant in the form of Mary Montgomerie's pet terrier Snarley, which had already become reconciled to him--had taken even a capricious fancy for him (for which it had been privately kicked more than once by the amiable Hew); and now it lay coiled up at his feet, and it was while stooping from time to time to pat the dog, that he perceived the latter come from under the table with a card in his teeth. All this while, Hew had been deeply intent on the points and counters. He had, however, allowed Falconer, as a lure, no doubt, to win four games successively, and as many sovereigns, when he suddenly proposed to increase the stakes to five pounds. 'Agreed,' said Falconer, almost to the other's surprise, he did it so readily; and the play went briskly on, while he continued to chat on irrelevant subjects. 'Who was that good-looking young fellow who took Miss Montgomerie in to dinner this evening?' he asked. 'Good looking? _I_ don't think so, but tastes differ. As to who he is, I may say that he comes of a good old county stock--nay, is _the_ stock himself--Bickerton of that ilk. You don't set much store on that sort of thing, as I remember,' added Hew, who could never resist saying a disagreeable thing, 'as you didn't seem to care what Falconers you came of, when Sir Piers--a great man for pedigree--spoke about it.' Cecil Falconer coloured perceptibly at this remark. Hew saw that it was a sore subject, and thought to himself: 'Hit him on the raw there, somehow!' Meanwhile, Falconer looked curiously at him from time to time. Was it the growing regard for Mary Montgomerie that induced him, Cecil Falconer, to dissemble in his bearing towards this fellow, and affect to forget that, but for a chance next to a miracle, by his hands, on that day at the covers, he might now have been a mutilated, hideous, and blind creature--blighted in existence and profession for ever? Yes, the influence of Mary alone could make him act the double part he felt himself to be acting now. Hew was dealing, and while Falconer was stooping to pat Snarley, gave himself--as he had done before--eight cards instead of _five_, some of which he seemed to drop as if by a blunder, and in mistake only took up one, leaving the remainder on the carpet till the hand was played out, when he skilfully, but not unnoticed, contrived to replace them in the pack. 'When we are married,' said he, with a nervous chuckle, 'I'll have to drop all this sort of thing, I suppose.' 'Well, don't _drop_ your cards as yet,' replied Falconer, coldly. 'Married--you, and who?'