h at Albano.
It seems our parson there has nothing to live on during the winter
months, and he is expected to be alive and cheery when spring comes
round; and Sir Marcus says, that though seals do this, it 's not so
easy for a curate; and so I said, 'Why does n't he join the other army?
There's a cardinal yonder will take him into his regiment;' and Sir
Marcus could n't stand this, and left me." She paused, and seemed lost
in a deep reverie, and then half-murmured rather than said, "What a
nice touch he has on the piano; so light and so liquid withal."

"Sir Marcus, do you mean?"

"Of course I don't," said she, pettishly. "I'm talking of Pracontal. I
'm sure he sings--he says not, or only for himself; and so I told him he
must sing for me, and he replied, 'Willingly, for I shall then be beside
myself with happiness.' Just fancy a Frenchman trying to say a smart
thing in English. I wonder what the Culduffs will think of him?"

"Are they likely to have an opportunity for an opinion?"

"Most certainly they are. I have asked him for Friday. He will be the
seventh at our little dinner."

"Not possible, Gusta! You could n't have done this!"

"I have, I give you my word. Is there any reason why I shouldn't?"

"All the reason in the world. You ask your relatives to a little
dinner, which implies extreme intimacy and familiarity; and you invite
to meet them a man whom, by every sentiment of self-interest, they must
abhor."

"_Cara mia_, I can't listen to such a vulgar argument. Monsieur de
Pracontal has charming personal qualities. I chatted about an hour with
him, and he is delightfully amusing; he 'll no more obtrude his claims
or his pretensions than Lord Culduff will speak of his fifty years of
diplomatic service. There is no more perfect triumph of good-breeding
than when it enables us to enjoy each other's society irrespective of
scores of little personal accidents, political estrangements, and the
like; and to show you that I have not been the inconsiderate creature
you think me, I actually did ask Pracontal if he thought that meeting
the Culduffs would be awkward or unpleasant for him, and he said he
was overjoyed at the thought; that I could not have done him a favor he
would prize more highly."

"_He_, of course, is very vain of the distinction. It is an honor he
never could have so much as dreamed of."

"I don't know that. I half suspect he is a gentleman who does not take a
depreciatory estimate of either