ruthfully enough:

"'I did not know that I was tired, it is such a beautiful book that one
forgets everything in the interest of the story.'

"'Yes, indeed,' Mrs. Harrington said, smelling at a little bouquet of
roses she held in her hand, 'James,' she called in a louder voice, 'have
you read it?'

"He started and exclaimed quickly--

"'Did you speak, mother? I beg your pardon, I did not know you were
talking to me.'

"'I only asked if you had read this new novel of Bulwer's, that Mabel
and I are so delighted with.'

"'Not yet,' he replied, settling back in his chair.

"I could see his face in the mirror; and the effort he made to collect
his thoughts and appear to listen while his mother went on talking about
the book, was perfectly plain to me.

"'You like it,' he said, absently.

"'My dear James,' she exclaimed, laughing in her pleasant, genial way,
'where are your thoughts this morning? I don't believe you have heard
one word I was saying.'

"'Oh yes,' he replied, 'you were saying how much you and Miss Crawford
were interested in the book.'

"'I had done with that,' said she, shaking her bouquet at him playfully,
'I was asking you the name of his last work.'

"'Whose? Ah! Bulwer's--I am stupid this morning, I must acknowledge.'

"I was sorry for the sort of embarrassment he displayed--something
unusual with him, so strong and self-centered, and I mentioned the name
of the romance that had preceded the one we were reading.

"'Of course,' said Mrs. Harrington, 'Mabel's memory never fails! Do you
know, James, the faculty she has of retaining names and dates is
something marvellous, especially to poor me, who sometimes can scarcely
recollect my own age and rightful appellation.

"'One has the opportunity of admiring so many splendid qualities in Miss
Crawford,' he answered, in the distant, ceremonious way which he so
often employed toward me of late.

"I felt absolutely hurt, silly and childish as it was to care for so
slight a thing. I suppose my tell-tale face showed it, for Mrs.
Harrington said, teasingly--

"'Really, James, you are very stately and magnificent, this morning!
that speech sounded grand and stilted enough to have suited Sir Charles
Grandison.'

"He laughed a little, but it sounded so forced that I wondered Mrs.
Harrington did not observe it.

"'I told you that I was stupid,' he said, 'so you need not be severe on
my poor attempt at a compliment.'

"'I assure your lordship tha