"Ah, Mosquito mio,"--the Toridor's usual pet name for a young bull,--"you were an easy victory after all, though I believe with a little more practice of the game I should only get off second best."
There was, if we must confess it, a certain little bit of boastfulness in the speech, the truth being that the struggle, though brief, had been a sharp one, and so Cashel's air and look bespoke it, as he led his horse out of the paddock.
It would be a somewhat nice point--happily, it is not requisite to decide it--whether Roland was more flattered by the enthusiastic praise of the elder sister, or touched by the silent but eloquent look with which Olivia received him.
"What a splendid sight, what a noble achievement!" said Miss Kennyfeck. "How I thank you for thus giving me, as it were, a peep into Spain, and letting me feel the glorious enthusiasm a deed of heroism can inspire!"
"Are you certain you are not hurt?" whispered Olivia; "the creature's horns certainly grazed you. Oh dear! how terrible it was at one moment!"
"Are you going to leave him in his toils?" said Miss Kennyfeck.
"Oh, certainly," replied Cashel, laughing; "I commit the pleasant office of liberating him to other hands." And so saying, he carelessly mounted his horse, while they pressed him with a hundred questions and inquiries about the late combat.
"I shall be amused to hear the reports that will be current to-morrow," said Miss Kennyfeck, "about this affair. I 'm certain the truth will be the last to ooze out. My groom says that the creature belongs to the Lord Lieutenant, and if so, there will be no end to the stories."
Cashel did not seem as much impressed as the sisters expected at this announcement, nor at all aware that he had been constructively affronting the Vice-Majesty of the land, and so he chatted away in pleasant indifference while they continued their ride towards home.
CHAPTER X. THE COMING DINNER-PARTY DISCUSSED
How kindness all its spirit lends, When we discuss our dearest friends, Not meanly faults and follies hiding, But frankly owning each backsliding, Confessing with polite compassion, "They 're very bad, but still the fashion."
The Kennyfecks were without strangers that day, and Cashel, who was now, as it were by unanimous election, received into the bosom of the family, enjoyed for the first time in his life a peep into the science of dinner-giving, in the discussions occasioned by the approaching banquet.