"At last," said he, as I entered,--"at last! Why, where the deuce have you been till this hour,--past two o'clock? There is no ball, no assembly going on, eh?"
"No," said I, half blushing at the eagerness of the inquiry; "I've been spending the evening with a friend."
"Spending the evening! Say, rather, the night! Why, confound you, man, what is there in Cork to keep you out of bed till near three?"
"Well, if you must know, I have been supping at a Major Dalrymple's,--a devilish good fellow, with two such daughters!"
"Ahem!" said Power, shutting one eye knowingly, and giving a look like a Yorkshire horse-dealer. "Go on."
"I've finished; I've nothing more to tell."
"So, they're here, are they?" said he, reflectingly.
"Where have I not? When I was in the Rifles they were quartered at Zante. Matilda was just then coming it rather strong with Villiers, of ours, a regular greenhorn. Fanny, also, nearly did for Harry Nesbitt, by riding a hurdle race. Then they left for Gibraltar, in the year,--what year was it?"
"Come, come," said I, "this is a humbug; the girls are quite young; you just have heard their names."
"Well, perhaps so; only tell me which is your peculiar weakness, as they say in the west, and may be I'll convince you."
"Oh, as to that," said I, laughing, "I'm not very far gone on either side."
"Then, Matilda, probably, has not tried you with Cowley, eh?--you look a little pink--'There are hearts that live and love alone.' Oh, poor fellow, you've got it! By Jove, how you've been coming it, though, in ten days! She ought not to have got to that for a month, at least; and how like a young one it was, to be caught by the poetry. Oh, Master Charley, I thought that the steeple-chaser might have done most with your Galway heart,--the girl in the gray habit, that sings 'Moddirederoo,' ought to have been the prize! Halt! by Saint George, but that tickles you also! Why, zounds, if I go on, probably, at this rate, I'll find a tender spot occupied by the 'black lady' herself."
It was no use concealing, or attempting to conceal, anything from my inquisitive friend; so I mixed my grog, and opened my whole heart; told how I had been conducting myself for the entire preceding fortnight; and when I concluded, sat silently awaiting Power's verdict, as though a jury were about to pronounce upon my life.