hat reason?' said Mr. Romfrey, freshening at her display of colour.

She would not expose Nevil to the accusation of childishness by
confessing her positive reason, so she answered, 'The man is a kind of
man... I was not there long; I was glad to escape. He...' she hesitated:
for in truth it was difficult to shape the charge against him, and the
effort to be reticent concerning Nevil, and communicative, now that
he had been spoken of, as to the detested doctor, reduced her to some
confusion. She was also fatally anxious to be in the extreme degree
conscientious, and corrected and modified her remarks most suspiciously.

'Did he insult you, ma'am?' Mr. Romfrey inquired.

She replied hastily, 'Oh no. He may be a good man in his way. He is one
of those men who do not seem to think a woman may have opinions. He does
not scruple to outrage those we hold. I am afraid he is an infidel. His
ideas of family duties and ties, and his manner of expressing himself,
shocked me, that is all. He is absurd. I dare say there is no harm
in him, except for those who are so unfortunate as to fall under his
influence--and that, I feel sure, cannot be permanent. He could not
injure me personally. He could not offend me, I mean. Indeed, I have
nothing whatever to say against him, as far as I...'

'Did he fail to treat you as a lady, ma'am?'

Rosamund was getting frightened by the significant pertinacity of her
lord.

'I am sure, sir, he meant no harm.'

'Was the man uncivil to you, ma'am?' came the emphatic interrogation.

She asked herself, had Dr. Shrapnel been uncivil toward her? And so
conscientious was she, that she allowed the question to be debated in
her mind for half a minute, answering then, 'No, not uncivil. I cannot
exactly explain.... He certainly did not intend to be uncivil. He is
only an unpolished, vexatious man; enormously tall.'

Mr. Romfrey ejaculated, 'Ha! humph!'

His view of Dr. Shrapnel was taken from that instant. It was, that this
enormously big blustering agitator against the preservation of
birds, had behaved rudely toward the lady officially the chief of his
household, and might be considered in the light of an adversary one
would like to meet. The size of the man increased his aspect of villany,
which in return added largely to his giant size. Everard Romfrey's
mental eye could perceive an attractiveness about the man little short
of magnetic; for he thought of him so much that he had to think of what
w