wondering looks.

"Strange, indeed," she remarked, "that a man should fail to appreciate
the boon of man's existence, the strength and freedom to dominate, to
be up and doing, to _live_ in fact. How I should long to be a man
myself, if I ever allowed myself to long for anything; but I am a
woman, as you see," she added, rising to the full height of her
exquisite figure, "and must submit to woman's lot--and that is just
now to the point, for I must leave you to go and see to the wants of
that _mioche_ of mine which I hear whining upstairs. But I do not
believe my uncle's account of you is a complete picture after all,
cousin Adrian. I shall get it out of you anon, catechise you in my own
way, and, if needs be, convert you to a proper sense of the glorious
privileges of your sex."

And she ran out of the room.

"Well, my lad," said Sir Thomas, that evening, when the ladies had
left the two men to their decanter, "I thought my Frenchwoman would
wake you up, but, by George, I hardly expected she would knock you all
of a heap so quick. Hey! you're winged, Adrian, winged, or this is not
port."

"I cannot say, sir," answered Adrian, musing.

The old man caught up the unsatisfactory reply in an exasperated
burlesque of mimicry: "I cannot say, sir--you cannot say? Pooh, pooh,
there is no shame in being in love with her. We all are more or less;
pass the bottle. As for you, since you clapped eyes on her you have
been like a man in the moon, not a word to throw to a dog, no eyes, no
ears but for your own thoughts, so long as madam is not there. Enter
madam, you're alive again, by George, and pretty lively, too! Gad, I
never thought I'd ever see _you_ do the lady's man, all in your own
queer way, of course; but, hang it all, she seems to like it, the
little minx! Ay, and if she has plenty of smiles for the old man she's
ready to give her earnest to you--I saw her, I saw her. But don't you
forget she's married, sir, very much married, too. She don't forget it
either, I can tell you, though you may think she does. Now, what sort
of game is she making of you? What were you talking about in the
picture gallery for an hour before dinner, eh?"

"To say the truth," answered the son, simply, "it was about myself
almost the whole time."

"And she flattered you finely, I'll be bound, of course," said his
elder, with a knowing look. "Oh, these women, these women!"

"On the contrary, sir, she thinks even less of me than you do. That