'And this was what the bells were ringing for last night?' said Freda,
looking flushed and handsome.
'In spite of my poverty they did me that honour,' said the colonel. 'I
heard the old place was likely to be let again, and so ran down to have
a look at it first, and beat up my old friends. It was years ago that I
went, a youth of nineteen, into the army, and twelve since I have been
here, and I have been all the world over since then; but I come back and
find everything much as I left it.'
'But surely you will not go away again?' said Mr Gwynne.
'I am not rich enough to keep up the old place as it ought to be kept,
and the debts are not half wiped off yet, so I don't mean to settle down
at present.'
'But a little economy and that sort of thing would soon clear the
property. You had better settle down.'
'I don't think I should like it; besides, I hear there are negotiations
going on between my attorneys and some other persons for a fresh
tenant.'
The luncheon-bell rang, and the party went into the dining-room; and
whilst they are eating and talking we will examine the new comer.
He is decidedly a handsome man. The most fastidious judge of masculine
beauty could scarcely deny this fact. Tall, well made, of commanding
figure and aristocratic appearance, black hair, a high rather than a
broad forehead, well marked eyebrows, and black lashes so long that they
half conceal the grey eyes beneath; an aquiline nose, and a well-defined
mouth, with an expression slightly sarcastic; a chin so deeply indented
with a dimple that, if the old saw be true, he must be a flirt or a
deceiver; and withal, a manner so perfectly easy and self-possessed that
you say at once court, camp, or cottage must be equally accessible to
that man.
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