"Yes, I know; but that does not change the old aristocrat's manner of regarding the affair. He contends that a gentleman born is always a gentleman, and a peasant always a peasant, notwithstanding the vicissitudes of fortune, that may enrich the one and impoverish the other." "Or rather, he contended so--it belongs to the past tense. Look at him now--see what deference he pays to Mr. Howard's opinions." "The mere politeness of the host. Take nothing for granted from that." "Nay, but Frank Howard is a gentleman of whom any father might be proud as a son-in-law." "Very likely. But Mr. Legare is not 'any' father. However, what I wish to know is, whether Frank Howard did not use you to procure the 'bid' that brought him hither?" "No, indeed!" "How came it, then, you artful boy, that you took just the course, and the only course, by which you could procure him an invitation?" "I don't understand you." "You innocent! How came it, then, that you wrote to Mr. Legare, you would be very happy to obey his summons, and spend the holidays at Wolfbrake, but that you had a friend with you whom you could not leave, and whom you took care not to mention by name?" "Oh, because I never gave the matter a moment's thought. When I got Mr. Legare's letter, I just sat down and answered it right off, and mentioned my friend merely as my friend. If I had, as you seem to think, been fishing for an invitation for him also, I certainly should have mentioned him by name and title as the Hon. Frank Howard, of Massachusetts, etc., etc., etc." "In which case you certainly would not have been invited to bring him here." "Probably not, but I did not know that. What knew I of the hostility, or even of the acquaintance, between the parties? I acted only in simple honesty." "The best way to act, my dear Johnny." "And so blundered into helping the lovers." "Not so. You were providentially led." "Well, as soon as ever I received the invitation, I hastened to write and give the name of my friend to our host, as I should have done at first, if I had dreamed of his being invited to accompany me. And as for Frank Howard, he was as innocent of design as myself. He knew nothing about the matter until I showed him Mr. Legare's last letter, and pressed him to go with me. He then asked me if Mr. Legare was any relation of the Legares, of Louisiana. I said I believed he had brothers in Louisiana, but I was not certain, as I knew very little of the family. Then he told me that he had had the pleasure of meeting a Mr. Legare, of Louisiana, at Saratoga, and should feel happy in making the acquaintance of any of his family; and there the conversation stopped. Frank was evidently as much astonished as delighted at the unexpected meeting with his ladylove." "I am glad to know it," said I. And then, not to continue the rudeness of an aside conversation, I took my brother to Rachel Noales, and left him with her, while I joined my kind old host.