"I protest against monopoly. I have not been able to say three words to my lady-cousin."
"I yield the floor from necessity. My long journey has unfitted me for this evening, and I must bid you all an early good night."
"Can I do anything for you, uncle?"
"No, thank you, Irene; I have a servant who thoroughly understands taking care of me. Go talk to Hugh, who has been wishing me among the antipodes."
He shook hands with her, smiled kindly, and Mr. Huntingdon assisted him to his room.
"Irene, come into the library and let me have a cigar."
"How tenacious your bad habits are, Hugh."
"Smoking belongs to no such category. My habits are certainly quite as tenacious as my cousin's antipathies."
He selected a cigar, lighted it, and drawing a chair near hers, threw himself into it with an expression of great satisfaction. "It is delightful to get back home, and see you again, Irene. I felt some regret at quitting Paris, but the sight of your face more than compensates me."
She was looking very earnestly at him, noting the alteration in his appearance, and for a moment his eyes drooped before hers. She saw that the years had been spent, not in study, but in a giddy round of pleasure and dissipation; yet the bright, frank, genial expression of boyhood still lingered, and she could not deny that he had grown up a very handsome man.