CHAPTER V.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 13, Issue 1077, 24 August 1869, Page 4

CHAPTER V.

: I didhbt see. my' friend on the following fafr but on the day following that he came ; ; " r '% me with a message from Mrs. Merridew, " .taking' _ne**.o* dine with the Colonel and . herself, who hM a small party in their own y apartments. , "". ,' All was going right, he said, between '■' himself and Miss. Pembroke ; and he had the advantage, he frankly confessed, of a great deal of backing up from Mrs. Merridew as welt as from his uncle. "I shall " propose," said he, " the very first oppor-tiinity—to-night if I get a chance." He .said nothing about feet this time-— I suppose lie thought his present relations with Miss Pembroke did not justify such a discussion. But I noticed when we met the ladies that they continued to wear robes so long as to preclude investigation into that particular. At dinner Ranger was placed as a matter of course beside the blue-eyed beauty, while she ofthe beaded black divided her attentions very pleasantly between the rest ' of us— the General and myself being the only other guests. -; After dinner we all went ,to the theatre ; and there also Ranger's seat in the box was next to that of Miss Pembroke. He had by this time got so far as to talk to her in whispers. The box was rather crowded, and the General, the Colonel, and myself, were not sorry to go but for. half an hour between the pieces. On our return I noticed that the blue eyes were much cast down, and that their owner 1 waa Constrained, and evidently indisposed for conversation. The black eyes, on the contrary, were all animation and triumph, and their owner conversational to an unusual degree. I had my suspicions. Ranger made a remark in the course of the evening which seemed mal-apropos — I could not tell why at the time. There was a young lady on the stage playing the part of a soubrette, /with skirts of course which made no mystery of a little foot and a wellturned ankle. Somebody made a remark tbat she was not quite so pretty as the author ot the piece intended her to be. " _STo," said the General, who had a blunt tray of expressing his opinion on the 'points' of ladies ; "but her feet are first-rate." "I am an immense admirer of pretty feet," said Ranger to his neighbour, in a voice intended doubtless for a whisper, but which was audible to, the whole box. Miss Pembroke drew herself up, blushed unmistakably, and,. l thought looked rather indignant. The compliment was rather too direct. The General accompanied the Colonel and 'the ladies home this time. When Ranger and myself were left alone on the boulevard, Ranger clutched me by the shoulder, and said — " All right, my boy !— -congratulate me." I did congratulate him, and remarked that he seemed to have managed matters rather cleverly during our absence from the box. "Well," said he, "Mrs. Merridew was f&ty considerate ; pushed her chair into a corner and said she bad a headache, seemed, ' in fact, to be asleep; and I popped the question in the quietest manner possible." ' " And received the answer in the same way?" "Yes, as far as I got any answer at all ; and perhaps I am not quite justified insay- ; ing that it's all right — she said nothing more than * To-morrow I'" ." * And Ranger looked a^. little nervous at 'the i"_iew [idea. ■ [' . t _' think you are safe, if she said T'ttfllt," replied I, and I congratulated him ; ''mit again. ''We were to meet next day, according to . an arrangement made in the course of the \ evening, to go and seethe waters play at Versailles.