Aunt Matty bowed her head approvingly. "E, double L, S," said Lady Rea, writing. "Don't shake me, Fin, there's a dear." For Lady Rea had come undone at the back of her dress, and Fin was busy with a pin at her collar. "Er-rum!" continued Sir Hampton. "Next we'll have Captain Vanleigh." And he looked hard at Tiny, who bent lower over her plate. "Van, I--tut-tut-tut, how do you spell leigh, e first or i first?" said Lady Rea. "Shall I write them down for you, Fanny?" said Aunt Matty. "No, thank you, Matty," said Lady Rea, who was getting into a knot. "There, I shall know what that means." "Er-rum!" said Sir Hampton; "Mr Mervyn." "La! Hampy," cried Lady Rea, looking up, "you haven't said Mr Trevor." "Mister--er-rum--Mervyn!" exclaimed Sir Hampton, sharply. "Oh, there, my dear, don't fly at me like that," cried Lady Rea. "M, e, r, v, i--" "Y, Fanny, y," said Aunt Matty, with a shudder. "Oh yes, y, of course," said Lady Rea, good-humouredly; "y, n, Mervyn. Next?" The girls bent their heads--Tiny over her breakfast, Fin smoothing the rather tousled hair of her mother. "Er-rum, I suppose I must ask this--er-rum--Trevor." "Surely, Hampton," exclaimed Aunt Matty, "you will not think of inviting that objectionable person." Fin glanced at her sister, whose face was crimson, and Lady Rea looked pained. "Matty, my dear, I think you are wrong. I..." "Have you got that name down, Lady Rea?" said Sir Hampton. "No, dear; but I soon will have," said her ladyship, making her pencil scramble over the tablet. "Er-rum!" ejaculated Sir Hampton, rising, puffing himself out, and walking slowly up and down the room; "a man in my position is obliged to make sacrifices, and ask people to whom he objects. In the event of my contesting the county such a man as this--er-rum--this--er-rum--Trevor would be useful I thank you, Matty; you mean, er--mean--rum, well. Put his name down, Fanny." "I have, my love," said Lady Rea, beaming at her children. "Hampton, I protest against this outrage," cried Aunt Matty, "after the marked way in which he has--" "Tiny, come and cut some flowers," said Fin; and her sister gladly beat a retreat, Fin whispering as they went--"Will he ask the little man?" "Now, Matty," said Sir Hampton, "have the goodness to proceed; and in future, when you enter upon such subjects, have the kindness to-- er-rum--remember that I am not deaf." "I say, Hampton, after the marked way in which that `seafaring person' has behaved to Valentina, it is most indiscreet to ask him here." "Oh, Matty," cried Lady Rea, "I'm sure that young man is as nice as can be." "If that was what you intended to say, Matilda--er-rum--it would have been most indecent before those children," said Sir Hampton, pompously. "In--" Aunt Matty could not say it, the word was too outrageous. "I feel bound--er-rum--bound," said Sir Hampton, with emphasis, "to ask the young man, as a proprietor, even as we might ask a tenant, Fanny." "Yes, my love."