“A decided acquisition, so far as appearance is concerned. The one who sat beside Major Stultz at dinner is decidedly beautiful. Don’t you think so?”
“Yes, and Major Stultz thinks so too, I should think; he made prodigious efforts to be agreeable, but could neither obtain a smile nor look during dinner. Had I been in his place, I should have tried the other, who is very nearly as pretty, and seems quite disposed to receive any attentions offered to her. I saw her looking towards our end of the table more than once, but could not ascertain whether she looked at me or your friend there.”
“My friend seems rather disposed to appropriate the looks, if I may judge from that rising blush.”
“By no means,” cried Hamilton; “my acquaintance with the young lady is of very recent date.”
“I did not know there was any acquaintance whatever,” said A. Z.
“It scarcely deserves the name. We travelled part of the way from Munich together; their carriage was dreadfully crowded, and I proposed taking some of the travellers. Mademoiselle Crescenz, the nursery-maid, and a kicking boy, called Peppy, were consigned to my care.”
“Such civility was very unusual on the part of Englishmen; at least, our countrymen are here generally supposed to be selfish when travelling,” observing A. Z.
“Perhaps my motives were not quite free from an alloy of selfishness; I rather dreaded the ennui of a long afternoon alone in an uncomfortable carriage; and, besides, I was in search of an adventure.”
“How did it turn out?”
“Oh, we got on famously until we reached Seon; but from the moment Mademoiselle Crescenz saw her step-mother, her manner totally changed; so I concluded she intended to decline my acquaintance, now that I could be of no further use to her.”