"Perhaps," said the Countess at last, "there are other ways. It may be that Percy is fond of fishing."
Lord Blight shifted uncomfortably in his seat. When he spoke it was with a curiously apologetic air.
"I am afraid, my dear," he said, "that you will think me foolish. No doubt I am. You must put it down to the artistic temperament. But I tell you quite candidly that it is as impossible for me to lose Percy in a boating accident as it would be for—shall I say?—Sargent to appear as 'Hamlet' or a violinist to wish to exhibit at the Royal Academy. One has one's art, one's medium of expression. It is at the top of the high cliff with an open view of the sea that I express myself best. Also," he added with some heat, "I feel strongly that what was good enough for Percy's father, ten brothers, three half-brothers, not to mention his cousin, should be good enough for Percy."
The Countess of Blight moved sadly from the room.
"Well," she said as she stopped for a moment at the door, "we must hope for the best. Perhaps Percy will overcome this aversion in time. You might talk seriously to him to-morrow about it."
"To-morrow," said the Earl, referring once more to his diary, "Basil and
I are visiting the romantic scarps of Filey."
IV
On the day following the unfortunate accident at Filey the Earl and
Countess of Blight reclined together upon the cliffs of Bridlington.
"If we only had had Percy here!" sighed the Earl.
"It was something to have got him as far as the beach," said the Countess hopefully. "Perhaps in time—a little higher every day—"