CHAPTER V.     A VISIT.

A "WEEK after, not very far from Raglan Villa,
Fermor and he met. Hanbury was going away
for a day, to be back in the morning. " were
you going to see the Manuels? " asked John
Hanbury, bluntly.

"How abrupt you are," said the other, smiling;
" you quite affect the nerves. I called there
yesterday, so it would be a little too soon, would
it not?"

"I have just been there," said the other;
"but am going away now, to see about the
horse, but shall be back to-morrow."

The first thought of Captain Fermor was,
"What on earth does this fellow tell me his
plans for? As if I care whether he goes or
returns to-morrow." The second was, that
possibly there might be a fair and open arena, happily
secured from interruption—this boor always
hanging about the place, and thrusting his
stupid presence perseveringly on these ladies.
He thought this over several times, put on some
elegant decoration, and, about five o'clock,
sauntered up to Raglan-terrace.

He went in. There were in the drawing-room
Mrs. Manuel, who " had been handsome," and
the younger daughter. It was the entry of a
disguised prince into the villager's cabin. It
was exactly the little stage he delighted in, and
the audience he would have chosen. Mrs. Manuel
was a woman of silent and depressed manners,
a little shy, perhaps, with suffering of some sort.
For him it was like a little circus in which his
personality might go round and round. He
thought to himself how—as a mere exercise for
his faculties, now long rusted by disuse—he
would show them the difference between true
and trained refinement, and that dull common
stuff they had had to bear with of late. He
really excited himself, sitting on a low chair;
and from that, as from a little pulpit, gave out
his monologue. He was entertaining. He aired
all his properties. He took his mind, as it
were, into his hand, and showed it round. "This
is where I differ from other men. The common
fellows, that we meet in the drawing-rooms, they
can speak but can't talk. Now I can talk but I
can't speak. I wish I could. I envy those creatures,
upon my word I do. I suppose if I laid
my mind to it I could. If I chose to talk upon,
say horses, I suppose I could ring the changes
on horses as well as another—pasterns, curbs,
and the rest of the jargon. But I don't want to.
I ride a horse out in the open air, not in the house,
you see!"

Two smiles on two faces, one, though, a little
doubtful, welcomed this sally. Just then entered,
as she always did, with a flush, the taller Miss
Manuel. She looked at him with a sort of hostile
inquiry.

It made one more for the audience, and Fermor,
turning himself in his pulpit, went on. "Now
there's your friend Mr. Hanbury. We know
him so well, no better person breathing, but he
has his line; and what I like him for, he feels it,
and don't try and travel out of it. Then he
talks as we have heard him, about that horse of
his, over and over again. It is very pleasant to
hear it, because, you see, it is nature. Now
you see, I can't manage that sort of thing. I
suppose I know a horse as well, at least, as most
men, and, perhaps, can ride one a great deal better
than many; but then I can't put it in so dramatic
a way—I can't indeed!" and Captain Fermor
smiled pleasantly. He felt he was getting more
fluent every moment. The large soft eyes were
fixed on him.

.Miss Manuel struck in. "I hope he will
long keep that dramatic power, as you call it. I
hope he will never exchange it for the false
affectations of fashion. I don't see much good brought
by them. I hope not—never!" She spoke this
a little excitedly.

Captain Fermor shrugged his shoulders. "You
know your friend better than I do. I don't
pretend to say how he will turn out. I can't lay my
mind to that sort of study. I wish I had time."

Violet gave a little titter. She could not help
it. It was a titter of approbation.

"His is a fine open manly character," said her
sister, her face beginning to flush, " that would
be worthy of all study. If he does talk of one
subject, if he is proud of his horses, it is a manly
English taste, the taste of English gentlemen.
Some of the English lords are on the turf, are
they not? I can tell you it requires some
courage to ride a steeple-chase."

She was walking up and down in this excited
manner, working up gradually to something like
anger. Her sister seemed to feel this, for she
made a low protest: " 0, Pauline!" The other
stopped suddenly and said:

"Captain Fermor, are you going to ride in
this race?"

He was smiling and twisting his hat between
his knees, like a globe, two lavender fingers
being the pivots. "Why, I believe not," he
said. " Not but that I should like it. Some of
our people will ride, which I am very glad of.
It will give the rustics here a lesson. None of
them know how, not one; they will learn
something, if they have the sense to profit by it."

"But Captain Fermor, it seems, is not to give
the lesson."

He coloured a little.

"We," she went on, "have all been brought
up to admire these manly sports, even when
there is risk and danger; we respect them, and
we hope our champion shall win. Don't you,
Violet?"

The door opens, and enter now John Ilanbury,
who stopped as he saw Captain Fermor. "Why,"
said he, "I thought you were—"

The other waited coldly for him to finish.
"Yes?" he said.

"I mean, I did not think you were coming
here."

"You  have just arrived in time," said Miss
Manuel." Captain Fermor has been ridiculing,
I may say—"