"An' to think, glory be to God (there's me best Camille de Rohan for you), that the Lord's looked down on the master at last (come down here, you conthrary divil; some o' them roses is as unwillin' to be picked as some people is to die), an' sent him home the young master to be the prop an' stay av his ould age (there goes the finest Malmaison in the County Kerry!). Sure, 'tis wonderful! wonderful! Well, the Lord is good to his own. (You've destroyed me prospects at the show entirely.) Click, click; I'd as soon you'd be cuttin' off meself as them tubey roses. Here, take them! Don't have me lookin' at them. 'Tis a holy show you've made o' the greenhouse!" "Never mind, Crosbie," said I, "you don't grudge them to-day," as I took the heaped-up basket. "I try not to, I try not to," he said gloomily. "But there's that man at the Towers. He'll be havin' a fine crow over me at Aisther. Yerra! why didn't the masther's son put off comin' till the show was over for another year?" I left the old man amid his half-comical regrets, and went to the dining-room, which I found resplendent with silver and fine linen. I had made up my mind to slip off as soon as I had arranged the flowers, so as to let the General and his restored son have their first meal together alone. But just as I was setting the last satiny rose amid its bronze leaves in the last specimen-glass, the General came in search of me. "Ah, decorating, Hilda!" he said. "My boy is gone upstairs to have a wash. How glad I am that you were here to welcome him, and to give me the good news!" "And very stupidly I did it. I was expecting him to burst cover every minute of my bungling." "Oh, no, my dear! it was most kind and considerate. My boy tells me he remembers you quite well, and recognized you at once." "I haven't changed much," I said carelessly. "But now, General, that I have finished, I am going to make myself scarce. Hawkins will drive me to Brandon." "You'll do nothing of the sort," said the General, a choleric spark coming into his eye. "You're not going to drop me now Lance has come, I can tell you." "I don't mean to drop you the least bit in the world. But you will have so much to say to each other this very first evening." "Nothing that we don't want you to share. Why, little girl"--and a wonderful smile broke over his face--"we have years before us in which to talk, please God, for Lance has promised never to leave me again." So I consented to stay, feeling rather dissatisfied with my plain frock of navy-blue serge on this day of rejoicing. Still, with a cluster of Crosspatch's Camille de Rohans fastened at the belt, I brightened it up a little for dinner, and hoped I did not look very dingy when I arrived in the dining-room. CHAPTER XXVI. THE UGLY DUCKLING. Captain MacNeill--I felt as if I must always call him Lance in my own mind--came forward when I entered the library after the dinner-bell had rung.