Experience is the best teacher." "As I wish to join the chorus to so notable a compliment, will somebody pass the claret ?" said Colonel Ryder, shaking the crumbs of a pate from his coat-collar.

When his glass was filled, he turned towards Mrs.
Falchion, and continued: "I drink to the health of the best teacher." And every one laughingly responded.

This impromptu toast would have been drunk with more warmth, if we could have foreseen an immediate event.
Not less peculiar were Mrs.Falchion's words to Hungerford the evening before, recorded in the last sentence of the preceding chapter.
Cigars were passed, and the men rose and strolled away.

We wandered outside the gardens, passing the rejected guide as we did so.

"I don't like the look in his eye," said Clovelly.
Colonel Ryder laughed.