o get the hang of etiquette," he went on to the fire. "Horses
even. Practise everything. Dine every night in evening dress.... Get
a brougham or something. Learn up golf and tennis and things. Country
gentleman. Oh Fay. It isn't only freedom from Goochery."

"Eh?" I said.

"Oh!--Gawshery, if you like!"

"French, George," said my aunt. "But I'M not ol' Gooch. I made that face
for fun."

"It isn't only freedom from Gawshery. We got to have Style. See! Style!
Just all right and one better. That's what I call Style. We can do it,
and we will."

He mumbled his cigar and smoked for a space, leaning forward and looking
into the fire.

"What is it," he asked, "after all? What is it? Tips about eating; tips
about drinking. Clothes. How to hold yourself, and not say jes' the
few little things they know for certain are wrong--jes' the shibboleth
things."

He was silent again, and the cigar crept up from the horizontal towards
the zenith as the confidence of his mouth increased.

"Learn the whole bag of tricks in six months." he said, becoming more
cheerful. "Ah, Susan? Beat it out! George, you in particular ought to
get hold of it. Ought to get into a good club, and all that."

"Always ready to learn!" I said. "Ever since you gave me the chance of
Latin. So far we don't seem to have hit upon any Latin-speaking stratum
in the population."

"We've come to French," said my aunt, "anyhow."

"It's a very useful language," said my uncle. "Put a point on things.
Zzzz. As for accent, no Englishman has an accent. No Englishman
pronounces French properly. Don't you tell ME. It's a Bluff.--It's all a
Bluff. Life's a Bluff--practically. That's why it's so important, Susan,
for us to attend to Style. Le Steel Say Lum. The Style it's the man.
Whad you laughing at, Susan? George, you're not smoking. These cigars
are good for the mind.... What do YOU think of it all? We got to adapt
ourselves. We have--so far.... Not going to be beat by these silly
things."

IV

"What do you think of it, George?" he insisted.

What I said I thought of it I don't now recall. Only I have very
distinctly the impression of meeting for a moment my aunt's impenetrable
eye. And anyhow he started in with his accustomed energy to rape the
mysteries of the Costly Life, and become the calmest of its lords. On
the whole, I think he did it--thoroughly. I have crowded memories,
a little difficult to disentangle, of his experimental stages, his
experimental