It fell about then that the vicar and Mrs Glaire were partners, and as sometimes happens, Richard and his partner, the doctor, had the most atrocious of hands almost without exception. This joined to the fact that Mrs Glaire played with shrewdness, and the vicar admirably, so disgusted Richard that at last he threw down the cards in a pet, vowing he would play no more. "Well, it is time to leave off, really," said the vicar, glancing at his watch. "Half-past ten." "Don't forget to give your winnings away in charity, parson," said Richard, in a sneering tone. "Dick!" whispered Eve, imploringly. "Hold _your_ tongue," was the reply. "I know what I'm saying." "No fear," said the vicar, good-temperedly, as he was bidding Mrs Glaire good night; "shall I send you an account? Good night, Miss Pelly. Thanks for a delightful evening. Good night, Mr Glaire." He held out his hand, and gave Richard's a grip that made him wince, and then, after a few words in the hall, he was gone, with the doctor for companion. "Thank goodness!" exclaimed Richard, savagely. "Why, Dick, dear, how cross you have been," said Eve, while Mrs Glaire watched the game. "Cross! Enough to make one," he cried, angrily; and then, mimicking the vicar's manner, "Good night, Miss Pelly. Thanks for a delightful evening." "Well, I'm sure it was, Dick," said Eve; "only you would be so cross." "And well I might, when you were flirting in that disgraceful way all the evening." "Oh, Dick!" exclaimed Eve, reproachfully; and the tears stood in her eyes. "Well, so you were," he cried, "abominably. If anybody else had been here, they would have said that you were engaged to be married to that cad of a parson, instead of to me." The tears were falling now as Eve laid her hand upon her cousin's shoulder. "Dick, dear," she whispered; "don't talk to me like that; it hurts me." "Serve you right," he growled. "If I have done anything to annoy you to-night, dear, it was done in all innocence. But you don't--you can't mean it." "Indeed, but I do," he growled, half turning his back. Mrs Glaire was sitting with her back to them, and still kept busy over her work. "I am so sorry, Dick--dear Dick," Eve said, resting her head on the young man's shoulder. "Don't be angry with me, Dick." "Then promise me you'll never speak to that fellow any more," he said, quickly. "Dick! Oh, how can I? But there, you don't mean it. You are only a little cross with me." "Cross!" he retorted; "you've hurt me so to-night that I've been wishing I'd never seen you." "Oh, Dick!" she exclaimed, as she caught his hand, and raised it to her lips. "Please forgive me, and believe me, dear Dick, that I have not a single thought that is not yours. Please forgive me." "There, hold your tongue," he said, shortly; "she's looking." Poor little Eve turned away to hide and dry her tears, and then Mrs Glaire, looking quite calm and satisfied with the prospect of events, said--