pert girl, Lady Betty Cochrane, out at sixteen, and bent on a husband before she was seventeen, marked Sophia's silence, nudged those about her, and took on herself to rally the girl. "La, miss, you must have been at a Quakers' meeting!" she cried, simpering. "It is easy to see where your thoughts are." "Where?" Sophia murmured, abashed by this public notice. "I believe there is very good acting in--Doblin!" the provoking creature answered, with her head on one side, and a sentimental air; and the ladies tittered and the gentlemen smiled. "Have you ever been to--Doblin, miss?" she continued, with a look that winged the innuendo. Sophia, her face on fire, did not answer. "Oh, la, miss, you are not offended, I hope!" the tormentor cried politely. "Sure, I thought the gentleman had spoken, and all was arranged. To be sure-- "O'Rourke's noble fare Will ne'er be forgot By those who were there, And those who were not! And those who were not!" she hummed again, with a wink that drove the ladies to hide their mirth in their handkerchiefs. "A fine man, O'Rourke, and I have heard that he was an actor in--Doblin!" the little tease continued. Sophia, choking with rage, and no match for her town-bred antagonist, could find not a word to answer; and worse still, she knew not where to look. Another moment and she might even have burst into tears, a mishap which would have disgraced her for ever in that company. But at the critical instant a quiet voice at the stern was heard, quoting-- "Whom Simplicetta loves the town would know, Mark well her knots, and name the happy beau!" On which it was seen that it is one thing to tease and another to be teased. Lady Betty swung round in a rage, and without a word attacked Sir Hervey with her fan with a violence that came very near to upsetting the boat. "How dare you, you horrid man?" she cried, when she thought she had beaten him enough. "I wish there were no men in the world, I declare I do! It's a great story, you ugly thing! If Mr. Hesketh says I gave him a knot, he is
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