CHAPTER XXIV.
IN WHICH TWO YOUNG PERSONS UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER BETTER, PERHAPS, THAN
EVER THEY DID BEFORE, WITHOUT SAYING SO.
And now the ladies, with their gay plumage, have flown away like foreign
birds of passage, and the jolly old priests of Bacchus, in the parlour,
make their libations of claret; and the young fellows, after a while,
seeing a gathering of painted fans, and rustling hoops, and fluttering
laces, upon the lawn, and a large immigration of hilarious neighbours
besides, and two serious fiddlers, and a black fellow with a tambourine
preparing for action, and the warm glitter of the western sun among the
green foliage about the window, could stand it no longer, but stole
away, notwithstanding a hospitable remonstrance and a protest from old
Strafford, to join the merry muster.
'The young bucks will leave their claret,' said Lord Castlemallard; 'and
truly 'tis a rare fine wine, colonel, a mighty choice claret truly (and
the colonel bowed low, and smiled a rugged purple smile in spite of
himself, for his claret _was_ choice), all won't do when Venus
beckons--when she beckons--ha, ha--all won't do, Sir--at the first
flutter of a petticoat, and the invitation of a pair of fine eyes--fine
eyes, colonel--by Jupiter, they're off--you can't keep 'em--I say your
wine won't keep 'em--they'll be off, Sir--peeping under the hoods, the
dogs will--and whispering their wicked nonsense, Dr.
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