“Oh, no. He is to stay with the Danforth-Sibbs. Mamma says that as he is
a stranger here we must be very polite to him, and that his being here
will give distinction to the season. Do you like him?” There was in
Evelyn still, with the penetration of the woman, the naivete of the
child.
“I cannot say that he is personally very fascinating, but then I have
never talked with him.”
“Mamma says he is very interesting about his family, and their place in
England, and about his travels. He has been in the South Sea Islands. I
asked him about them. He said that the natives were awfully jolly, and
that the climate was jolly hot. Do you know, McDonald, that you can't
get anything out of him but exclamations and slang. I suppose he talks
to other people differently. I tried him. At the reception I asked him
who was going to take Tennyson's place. He looked blank, and then said,
'Er--I must have missed that. What place? Is he out?'”
Miss McDonald laughed, and then said, “You don't understand the classes
in English life. Poetry is not in his line. You see, dear, you couldn't
talk to him about politics. He is a born legislator, and when he is in
the House of Lords he will know right well who is in and who is out.
You mustn't be unjust because he seems odd to you and of limited
intelligence. Just that sort of youth is liable to turn up some day in
India or somewhere and do a mighty plucky thing, and become a hero. I
dare say he is a great sportsman.”
“Yes, he quite warmed up about shooting. He told me about going for yak
in the snow mountains south of Thibet. Bloody cold it was. Nasty beast,
if you didn't bring him down first shot. No, I don't doubt his courage
nor his impudence. He looks at me so, that I can't help blushing. I wish
mamma wouldn't ask him.”
“But, my dear, we must live in the world as it is. You are not
responsible for Lord Montague.”
“And I know he will come,” the girl persisted in her line of thought.
“When he called the day before we came away, he asked a lot of questions
about Newport, about horses and polo and golf, and all that, and were
the roads good. And then, 'Do you bike, Miss Mavick?'
“I pretended not to understand, and said I was still studying with my
governess and I hadn't got all the irregular verbs yet. For once, he
looked quite blank, and after a minute he said, 'That's very good, you
know!' McDonald, I just hate him. He makes me so uneasy.”
“But don't you know, child,” said Miss McDonald, laughing, “that we are
required to love our enemies?”
“So I would,” replied the girl, quickly, “if he were an enemy and would
keep away. Ah, me! McDonald, I want to ask you something. Do you suppose
he would hang around a girl who was poor, such a sweet, pretty, dear
creature as Alice Maitland, who is a hundred times nicer than I am?”
“He might,” said Miss McDonald, still quizzically. “They say that like
goes to like, and it is reported that the Duke of Tewkesbury is as good
as ruined.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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