“D—­d——!  Ahem!” cried Percy, turning green.

Walter had no mercy.  “I heard her say once she could make any man love her if she chose.”

“So she could,” said Percy, ruefully.  “She made me.  I had an awful p—­p—­prejudice against her, but there was no resisting.”

“Then don’t subject me to such a trial.  Stick to her like a man.”

“So I will; b—­but it is a m—­m—­mortifying position.  I’m a man of family.  We came in with the C—­Conquest, and are respected in our c—­county; and here I have to meet her on the sly, and live at the D—­Dun Cow.”

“Where the cuisine is wretched.”

“A—­b—­b—­bominable!”

Having thus impregnated his mind with that soothing sentiment, jealousy, Walter told him he had a house to let on the estate—­quite a gentleman’s house, only a little dilapidated, with a fine lawn and garden, only neglected into a wilderness.  “But all the better for you,” said he.  “You have plenty of money, and no occupation.  Perhaps that is what leads to these little quarrels.  It will amuse you to repair the crib and restore the lawn.  Why, there is a brook runs through it—­it isn’t every lawn has that—­and there used to be water-lilies floating, and peonies nodding down at them from the bank:  a paradise.  She adores flowers, you know.  Why not rent that house from me?  You will have constant occupation and amusement.  You will become a rival potentate to my governor.  You will take the shine out of him directly; you have only to give a ball, and then all the girls will worship you, Julia Clifford especially, for she could dance the devil to a stand-still.”

Percy’s eyes flashed.  “When can I have the place?” said he, eagerly.

“In half an hour.  I’ll draw you a three months’ agreement.  Got any paper?  Of course not.  Julia is so near.  What are those?  Playing-cards.  What do you play?  ‘Patience,’ all by yourself.  No wonder you are quarrelsome!  Nothing else to bestow your energy on.”

Percy denied this imputation.  The cards were for pistol practice.  He shot daily at the pips in the yard.

“It is the fiend Ennui that loads your pistols, and your temper too.  Didn’t I tell you so?”

Walter then demanded the ace of diamonds, and on its face let him the house and premises on a repairing lease for three years, rent L5 a year:  which was a good bargain for both parties, since Percy was sure to lay out a thousand pounds or two on the property, and to bind Julia more closely to him, who was worth her weight in gold ten times over.

Walter had brought the keys with him, so he drove Percy over at once and gave him possession, and, to do the little fellow justice, the moisture of gratitude stood in his eyes when they parted.

Walter told Julia about it the same night, and her eyes were eloquent too.

The next day he had a walk with Mary Bartley, and told her all about it.  She hung upon him, and gazed admiringly into his eyes all the time, and they parted happy lovers.