In a few moments the party from Mrs. Marchmont's were on the road, though it proved difficult to hold the chilled and spirited horses long enough for them to get seated. De Forrest again took his place by Lottie, but she determined to make the conversation general. "I've had a splendid time," she exclaimed, "and am very much obliged to you, Addie and Mr. Harcourt, for bringing me." "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself," said Addie, "and hope that you have now had enough of the 'other set,' as you call them. I don't see how you can endure them." "Nor I either," said Bel, "although I suppose we ought to mingle with them occasionally. But I am tired to death." "I was disgusted with them from first to last," said De Forrest,--"the uncouth, ill-bred crew. I couldn't endure to see you, Miss Lottie, going around with that clodhopper of a farmer, and, worst of all, how could you touch that great mountain of flesh they called Auntie Lammer?" "Many men of many minds," trilled out Lottie; but she thought of Hemstead's treatment of the poor old creature in contrast. "Whoa there, steady now," cried Harcourt to the horses; and Hemstead, though sitting with his back to him, noted that he was too much engrossed with their management to speak often, even to Addie who sat beside him. "Mr. Hemstead said that Auntie Lammer was more than a duchess," added Lottie, laughing. "True, she's a monster. Bat what did Mr. Hemstead call her?" "He said she was a 'woman,' and was as polite is if paying homage to universal womanhood." "I think," said De Forrest, satirically, "that Mr. Hemstead might have found a better, if not a larger type of 'universal womanhood' to whom he could have paid his homage. I was not aware that he regarded bulk as the most admirable quality in woman. Well, he does not take a narrow view of the sex. His ideal is large." "Come, Mr. De Forrest," said Hemstead, "your wit is as heavy as Mrs. Lammer herself, and she nearly broke my back going down stairs." "O, pardon me. It was your back that suffered. I thought it was your heart. How came you to be so excessively polite then?" "I think Miss Marsden is indulging in a bit of fun at my expense. Of course a gentleman ought to be polite to any and every woman, because she is such. Would it be knightly or manly to bow to a duchess, and treat some poor obscure woman as if she were scarcely human? Chivalry," continued he, laughing, "devoted itself to woman in distress, and if ever a woman's soul was burdened, Aunt Lammer's must be. But how do you account for this, Mr. De Forrest? It was Miss Marsden that took pity on the poor creature and summoned me to her aid. She was more polite and helpful than I." "I have just said to her that I do not understand how she can do such things save in the spirit of mischief," he replied, discontentedly. "It really pained me all the evening to see you in contact with such people," he added tenderly, aside to Lottie.