“Frederick has been most anxious for me to call ever since he met Lady Fairfax one day out riding; he has been dying to make her acquaintance. He has such an eye for beauty.”
“He looks like it,” assented Geoffrey in a cheerful shout.
“Be quiet, Geoffrey,” muttered Reginald from behind.
“Are you any relation to Lady Fairfax, may I ask?”
“Yes, of course I am,” roared Geoffrey.
“Both of you? Cousins did you say?”
“No, I did not; but I am her cousin.”
“As much her cousin as I am,” in a loud aside to her friend, and with a significance baffling all description.
Mary, seeing a storm brewing in Reginald’s eyes, hastened to throw herself into the breach with an all-absorbing bazaar for bait. But no, the devoted old lady madly rushed on her fate. After a few brief replies she resumed:
“Did you say that this other gentleman was a cousin also?” regarding Geoffrey with a keen satirical eye.