"Well done, Arturo! excellent, _mon general_! Why, you would carry the stoutest fort I set you to attack in a few days. I have not heard anything so clever as that apt remark of yours for months. Really," she continued, dropping the glass and resuming her scissors, "I am growing quite proud of you--I am indeed." "And so you mock at me," he said angrily. "Not I, Arturo; you were only practising; and it was very smart. No, my dear, it would not do for you; and I tell you frankly, you have had a very narrow escape." "Why?" he said; and his eyes glanced round at the rich place with its many indications of wealth, and as he noted these there came to his memory his last unpaid bill. "Because I have a horrible temper, and I am a terrible tyrant. Of course you would have married me for my money and position." "Don't say that," cried Litton. "Don't be a donkey, Arthur, _mon cher_," said the lady. "Well, to proceed: I should have married you because you were young and handsome." "Your ladyship seemed to indicate just now that I was not handsome," said Litton. "Did I? Well, I retract. I do think you handsome, Arturo, and I should have been horribly jealous of you as soon as I found that you were paying your court elsewhere." "Does your ladyship still imagine that I could be such a scoundrel?" cried Litton, in indignant tones. The square golden eyeglass went up again. "Excellent, Arturo, my dear boy! You would have made a fortune upon the stage in tragi-comedy. Nothing could have been finer than that declaration. Really, I am proud of you! But I should have led you a horrible life, and been ready to poison you if I found you out in deception." "Lady Littletown, I hope I am a gentleman," said the visitor haughtily. "I hope you are, I'm sure, my dear boy," said her ladyship, smiling at him serenely. "But, as you see, I could not have put up with my money being lavished upon others; and hence I thought it better to let someone else have you." "But, my dear Lady Littletown--" "Ah, tut, tut, tut! no rhapsodies, please, my sweet ingenuous Lubin. I am no Phyllis now, believe me, and all this is waste of words. There, be patient, my dear boy, and you shall have a rich wife, and she shall be as young as I can manage; but, mind, I do not promise beauty. Do you hear? Are the raptures at an end?" "Oh yes, if you like," he said bitterly. "I do like, my dear boy; so they are at an end. Really, Arturo, I feel quite motherly towards you, and, believe me, I shall not rest until I see you well mated." "Thanks, my dear Lady Littletown," he said; "and with that, I suppose, I am to be contented." "Yes, sir; and you ought to be very thankful, Do you hear?" "Yes," he replied, taking and kissing one of her ladyship's gardening gloves. "And now I must be for saying _au revoir_."