"
She coloured a little at the compliment, and said, lightly: "Father told
me once that Irishmen were great hands at compliments. He told me that
there was some stone that people went to an old castle to kiss--I think
that he called it the Blarney Stone--and after that they were able to say
all sorts of absurd things."
"I have never kissed the Blarney Stone," Terence said, laughing. "If I
wanted to kiss anything, it would be something a good deal softer than
that."
They were now entering the camp, and in a few minutes they arrived at the
tent.
"I began to think that you were lost, O'Connor," Herrara said, as they
came up.
"We had a lot to talk about," Terence replied. "My cousin has been
insisting upon my telling her my whole history, and all about what has
passed here since she was shut up a year ago, and, as you may imagine, it
was rather a long story."
A few minutes later they sat down on the ground to a meal in which roast
pork was the leading feature.
"This is what we call in England a picnic, senora," Terence said to Don
Jose's wife.
"A picnic," she repeated; "what does that mean? It is a funny word."
"I have no idea why it should be called so," Terence said. "It means an
open-air party. The ladies are supposed to bring the provisions, and the
gentlemen the wine. Sometimes it is a boating party; at other times they
drive in carriages to the spot agreed upon.
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