"You 'd lose your money, then," said Maitland; "at least, if I was rogue enough to take you up."
"You must be one of the best shots in Europe, then!"
"No; they call me second in the Tyrol. Hans Godrel is the first We have had many matches together, and he has always beaten me."
The presence of a royal prince would not have inspired Tony with the same amount of respect as these few words, uttered negligently and carelessly; and he measured the speaker from head to foot, recognizing for the first time his lithe and well-knit, well-proportioned figure.
"I 'll be bound you are a horseman, too?" cried Tony.
"If you hadn't praised my shooting, I 'd tell you that I ride better than I shoot."
"How I 'd like to have a brush across country with you!" exclaimed Tony, warmly.
"What easier?--what so easy? Our friend Sir Arthur has an excellent stable; at least, there is more than one mount for men of our weight I suspect Mark Lyle will not join us; but we 'll arrange a match,--a sort of home steeple-chase."
"I 'd like it well," broke in Tony, "but I have no horses of my own, and I 'll not ride Sir Arthur's."
"This same independence of ours has a something about it that won't let us seem very amiable, Mr. Maitland," said the old lady, smiling.
"Pardon me, madam; it has an especial attraction for _me_. I have all my life long been a disciple of that school; but I must say that in the present case it is not applicable. I have been for the last couple of weeks a guest at Lyle Abbey; and if I were asked whose name came most often uppermost, and always in terms of praise, I should say--your son's."
"I have met with great kindness from Sir Arthur and his family," said Tony, half sternly, half sorrowfully. "I am not likely ever to forget it."
"You have not seen them since your return, I think?" said Maitland, carelessly.
"No, sir," broke in the old lady; "my son has been so full of his travels, and all the great people he met, that we have not got through more than half of his adventures. Indeed, when you came up he was just telling me of an audience he had with a Cabinet Minister--"
"Pooh, pooh, mother! Don't bore Mr. Maitland with these personal details."
"I know it is the privilege of friendship to listen to these," said Maitland, "and I am sincerely sorry that I have not such a claim."