intoxicated, of course.
When it was over he went upon a horrible bout and then sank into an
apathy from which no art of mine could rouse him; although I am bound
to add, in justice to one of the gentlest and most courteous souls I
have ever known, his civility as a host never deserted him. I was,
alas! obliged to return to England with nothing accomplished, but I
have come this year with quite another plan. Will you listen to it,
Miss Percy?"

"I am vastly interested." But she had little hope, and could well
conceive that three months of this good young man might have confirmed
the poet in his desire for oblivion.

"I persuaded my mother to come with me, although without avowing my
object. I merely expatiated upon the beauty and salubrity of Nevis,
and the elegant comforts of Bath House. Women often demand much
subtlety in the handling. We arrived by the packet that preceded
yours--two weeks ago, but I only yesterday broached my plan to her;
she stood the trip so ill, and then seemed to find so much delight in
long gossips with her old friends--a luxury denied her at home, where
politics and society absorb her. But yesterday I had a talk with her,
and this is my plan--that she should persuade herself and a number of
the other ladies that it is their duty to restore to Warner his lost
self-respect. For that I believe to be the root of the trouble, not
any real inclination to dissipation and low society. This restoration
can be accomplished only by making him believe that people of the
highest respectability and fashion desire, nay demand, his company.
As my mother knew him well in England it will be quite natural she
should write him a note asking him to take a dish of tea with her
and complimenting his latest volume--I brought it with me. If he
hesitates, as he well may do, she can call upon him with me, and,
while ignoring the cause, vow he has been a recluse long enough, and
that the ladies of Bath House are determined to have much of him. Such
a course must succeed, for, naturally the most refined of men, he must
long bitterly, when himself, for the society of his own kind. Then,
when the ice is broken, we will ask others to meet him----"

"And has your mother consented?"

"Practically. I have no doubt that she will. She is a woman who needs
a cause for her energies, and she never had a better one, not even
the restoration of the Tories and Sir Robert."

"And you wish me to meet him?"

"Particularly, dear Mis