Beatrice.

summer ' s clay ; ancl more energetic " dames " or more assiduous " cavaliers " never did encounter each other , as Twamley says , vi et armis 1 Amid the little nothings of that game of croquet—amid councils of war , prudent manoeuvres , ancl energetic action—it was q uite clear to me that Master Walter Morley and Miss Beatrice Mortimer were getting on very well together , indeed , better than one or two of those present seemed to like . We had been joined , in the meantime , by Mr . Miller and his pretty daughter

Agnes , and Molesey of Molesey had looked in , though , as he said , he did not care for croquet , and did not drink tea , ancl objected on principle to " muffin worries . " Brummer , who was as wideawake a German as the great Teutonia , ( auspice Bismarkii ) , has ever sent to our hospitable shores , remarked in his German-English , "Dat de skermeesh had been A ery varm , ancl dat Miss Beatrice had been veil supported by dat gallant officere . "

Twamley , Avho was irrepressible , hummed , "None but the brave deserve the fair ;" and said that one of the distinguishing characteristics of the British officer of the day was his attention to the fair sex at croquet ancl any other pastime . " Indeed , " he added , " I know of a dreadful story of a young lady visiting the camp at Shorncliffe , and suffering ever after from a dreadful heart complaint , brought on by a gallant Lieutenant of the Royal Sajipers and Miners . " Morley requested Twamley to shut up . Molesey said something about " rubbish ; " and old Mr . Miller took snuff .

I watched Beatrice during this merry chaff , and saw a gentle blush stealing over the cheek of that fair maiden , who was , however , very cool and collected , and , as Twamley said to me , " All serene . " Brummer declared that it was now time to go to tea , and that Mrs . Mortimer was looking out for us , adding , looking slily at Miss Beatrice , and sagaciously at us , " You know , my dear Miss Beatrice , that croquet , though a i ery charming is a very fatiguing

ancl often trying game for young ladies . You reall y have got quite a bloom from the exercise , and you do look oh ! so very Avell . " Poor old Brummer ! I think I hear his cheery voice now . But Beatrice , as the saying is , stood fire well , ancl I admired . then , as I have often admired since , her aplomb and imperturbability . Lideed , during my life I have learnt to wonder at and applaud the calmness of ladies under similar provocation in like situations .

Commend me to a young woman , especially one of our own time , for steadiness of purpose and firmness of nerve . I have beheld a line of the Guards give a sharp rolling fire ; I have seen the Household Cavalry charge across H yde Park ; I have admired the R . II . A . as they came up at a hand gallop , and unlimbered ; I have even looked on with beating heart at the advance of the " thin red line ; " but , to use Molesey of Molesey ' s familiar if unclassic idiom , " By George ! if a girl ' s courage ancl self-possession don't beat them all ! " You can't put her out of countenance ; you are unable to make her forget the " sitiwation , " She knows as much as you do , and very often a good deal

more . She will keep her own secret until she chooses to avow it , ancl in vain are hints , or chaff , or innuendo , or queries . Our fair young friend will not proclaim what she really thinks of you or me , of ( his preux chevalier or that , until she thinks the proper time has come , —until she chooses to make up her own mind . And ivho can blame her ? Who can venture to say that she is wrong ? Does not the matter concern her , after all , more than anyone else ? Is not the denouement all in all to her ? Let us learn to be

more just to women . We are after all , high-minded and impeccable lords of the creation as we are , most unjust often in our treatment of women . By this time the conversation had become general , and the tea universal , and the company " mixed , " ancl friends were severed ; and though all seemed to be in the " swim , " and even on the " flush , " yet such are the undercurrents of society that many were not in the right place , or , as Violet Chiltorn has it , were rather on the " wrong side of the post . " Old Miller had got hold of Beatrice , who was assenting most civilly to all the good-natured Scotchman ' s remarks , while young Morley—like all young men , wise in their generation—was paying attention to Mrs . Mortimer .