"I _have_ driven a team before now," observed Billy, with dignity. I Hengist gave him a reproving look (which Billy bore very stoically), and whispered to Leah as they parted, "Don't encourage that lad." "I don't think he needs much encouragement," said Lady Jim, laughing, and the two women walked away with Billy between them. Hengist stood where he was and frowned. "Charming woman, Lady James," he murmured, gazing after Leah's amethystine gown; "but that lad--ugh!" He shook his head over young England up-to-date; then returned to the villa to hear the twins say the alphabet. Life had its compensations, even for a millionaire peer. CHAPTER XIV After the happy-go-lucky fashion of Italian officialism, the train was detained for some time at Ventimiglia. Lady Richardson, unsettled as a fly, changed her seat five times, and complained garrulously. "Captain Lake is so very particular," she explained, producing a pocket-mirror and a powder-puff to repair possible damages. "He can't bear to be kept waiting five minutes." "Then I should make him wait five hours," replied Leah, calmly. "It doesn't do to spoil men." "You spoil me," said Sir Billy, audaciously. "Pooh! You are merely a rascal in the making. I wouldn't hint how we govern your sex, if you were anything but a grub." The boy laughed complacently. "I'm a very nice grub." "Very precocious, at all events. You know much more than is good for you. Fanny, you should whip him." "I haven't the heart or the muscle, my dear. The only safe thing will be to marry a strong man with a bad temper." "I should jolly well like to see the stepfather who would pitch into me." "You will, if you don't behave. Isn't that eyebrow a little crooked, Billy?" and she fingered it delicately. "Don't think so; but you have a smudge of powder on your chin." "So I have. How horrid! There!" dusting it off. "What a comfort you are to your darling mammy, my own! Kiss me." Billy brushed her rouge with careful lips, and after a glance to see that he had not blurred the picture, Lady Richardson put away the mirror. "Thank goodness, we're moving again," she prattled. "I do hope Reggy won't be in a bad temper." "I'll square that, little mother. Been to the theatres lately, Lady Jim?" "No," answered Leah, amused by his man-about-town air. "Is there anything good on?" "Awful stuff," announced Billy, with the conviction, of mature judgment. "Couldn't sit out more than two plays. _The Woman with Three Husbands_ isn't bad, though. Very French, of course. Saw it four times before I told the little mother she couldn't face it." "How alluring! Will you take me?" Billy was obviously shocked. "No woman should see that piece. I can stand heaps, but----" an after-me-the-deluge shrug hinted at the degradation of the drama. "Yes, poor darling," chimed in his mother; "he was blushing three inches deep all over when he came home."