Was
she really posing in her naivete? There was a certain mischievous,
even aggressive, consciousness in her pretty eyelids. Then she suddenly
dropped both eyes and voice, and said to the consul in a genuine aside,
"I like this sort of thing much better."
The consul looked puzzled. "What sort of thing?"
"Why, all these swell people, don't you see? those pictures on the
walls! this elegant room! everything that has come down from the past,
all ready and settled for you, you know--ages ago! Something you haven't
to pick up for yourself and worry over."
But here the consul pointed out that the place itself was not
"ancestral" as regarded the present earl, and that even the original
title of his predecessors had passed away from it. "In fact, it came
into the family by one of those 'outsiders' you deprecate. But I dare
say you'd find the place quite as comfortable with Lord Beverdale for a
host as you would if you had found out he were a cousin," he added.
"Better," said the young lady frankly.
"I suppose your mother participates in these preferences?" said the
consul, with a smile.
Pages:
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133